An Ace up My Sleeve
by Wisty
Summary: Alice A. Winster, an average girl who has an unusual ability to communicate with spirits. With no home or family to call her own, the Wammy House takes her in. How will a girl with average skill and intellect survive in a house full of geniuses?LxOC
1. Alice in Her Drunken Wonderland

_Hello anyone and everyone! This will be my first time writing a fan-fiction for Death note so we will see how well I can pull it off. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Oh I should also put one of those little disclaimers here shouldn't I? **Me no own Death note** (That work?)_

* * *

**Alice in Her Drunken Wonderland**

The door creaked open with hesitation, allowing a small stream of light out in the hallway to illuminate a portion of the floor. A girl, her platinum blond hair stuck to her face, entered the quiet, dark room. She stumbled to a red antique chair and grabbed ahold of its armrest tightly to keep her balance. A small giggle escaped her lips before she moved on to a large wooden desk at the far end of the room. As she grabbed hold of one of its corners, she couldn't help but drop to her knees, chuckling with amusement.

"This place is _huge!"_ she exclaimed to herself. Occasionally, a snort would follow with her laughter, as if her nose wanted to join in on the fun. As she stumbled to get back on her feet, which was an impossible task for her current state of mind, a shiny black antique telephone started to ring. Not stopping to think where she was or who could be calling, she picked up the handset and pressed it up against her ear.

"Watari," a calm, smooth, and deep voice echoed through the receiver.

The girl immediately could not hold in her laughs and lowered herself to ground once again, taking the corded handset with her.

"I suppose this is not Watari, then," the voice spoke.

"You sound like a dragonfly." The girl snorted loudly. She was still holding onto the corner of the desk to keep her chest up, but it didn't help enough to keep the rest of her stable.

"A dragonfly is an insect and therefore could not possibly have a larynx to converse with. I could never sound like a dragonfly, unless you are referring to the physical sound it makes with its wings when it's in motion. Even so, both compression waves would be completely different."

The girl just chortled more, not taking in any of what the voice from the receiver told her. Instead,she lifted herself once again onto her wobbly legs. Sounds of rapid footstep came from outside in the hall, so the girl knew time was limited with this mysterious man.

"I'm _so_ wasted!" the girl laughed hysterically, her cheeks pink as bubblegum.

"I've already deduced that the moment you spoke," the man responded without any concern. "Could you please put Watari on the phone?"

"Okay, Mr. Dragonfly, but I don't think he will fit," she giggled, but then contemplated it as an afterthought. The door behind her suddenly swung open, and an old man with white-gray hair and a matching mustache shuffled into the room, completely winded. Just seconds before, he was running around the house, looking for the mentally-unstable girl.

As soon as he spotted the handset in her hand, he quickly pulled it away and put it to his ear. "Ah, L, my apologies. Miss Alice left my site for only a second, and somehow she managed to evade my vision." Watari sighed. He produced a plain, creamed-colored handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"So, that was Alice then," L pondered to himself.

Alice giggled with more enthusiasm as she stared at her hands. "My hands are huge!" She then held them up to Watari. "Do you see this? They're almost as big as that caterpillar on your face!"

Watari sighed once again, frustrated with himself for letting her get this way.

"As much as I would love to ask why Miss Alice is intoxicated, I think it would be best if I just let Bygones be bygones and get back to business," L spoke up, letting his good friend deal with the problem himself instead of adding to it. Watari thanked him repeatedly as he pushed Alice's hands away from his face.

"So, what about the twenty-fourth? I believe by then you should have your work completed," Watari suggested.

With Alice's hands returned to her, she turned away from Watari and followed the cord that was hooked from the handset to the rest of the telephone. The push dial rested on the front of the phone, begging, in Alice's mind, to be messed with. Without any hesitation, Alice stuck her forefinger into one of the holes and pushed down.

Watari quickly pulled her hand away before she could do anything more. "Miss Alice, please reframe from that misbehavior," he pleaded.

Alice only responded with a laugh and a snort."You said beaver," she chuckled.

L ignored the girl's presence and continued on with the conversation: "I will be done with the case sooner than that, so I will most likely depart on the nineteenth."

Watari paused for a second, taking in L's words, but soon found himself smiling with relief. "All right, the nineteenth, then. I will have everything prepared for your arrival."

L took this as the end of conversation and thanked Watari for his work before he hung up the phone. As he set his cell phone down, he took a look back at his laptop screen in front him. A small smile crept on his face as he placed his thumb to his lips.

"Dragonfly, huh?"

* * *

A breeze rolled in through the open window, pulling lace curtains along with it. The room lit up from the sun's rays, warming the room to a cool temperature. Alice groaned as she sat up in her mangled bed. She was never still when she slept, so sheets scrunched at the end on the mattress and covers twisted around her torso weren't all too surprising to her. As she untangled herself from the comforter, a quiet knock came from her door.

"Yeah, uh, who is it?" she asked, her headache throbbing from the sound of her own voice. The light entering the room also didn't help her hangover. It was bright and blinding, making her eyes squint with discomfort.

"Breakfast is ready, and it would be nice if you could come join us," Watari said.

Alice groaned in response and held her forehead tightly. "All right, I'm I'm not going to be happy about it."

"I'm pleased to hear you're back to normal." He then turned away from the door and proceeded down the hall. After everything that happened last night, Watari could only smile with joy that the newest member was getting along well with everyone else. At first, he was concerned, not really knowing how she would favor in the home, but after a month's time passed by, the results had been more than satisfactory.

Alice pulled herself out of bed slowly, still cradling her forehead. The pain came in different waves, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

She knew the only cure for her hangover, or at least a way to make it suck less, was orange juice. So she grabbed her pair of skinny jeans off the floor and tried to maneuver herself into them as best as she could. Feeling like throwing up didn't help, but after a small struggle on her part, she managed to get the pants on. She tore off her pajama shirt next and then proceeded to try and hook her bra behind her. After failing a couple rounds, she huffed angrily at the piece of undergarment and tossed it to the side. She could live without a bra for one day. Instead, she picked up one of her T-shirts and sniffed it to make sure it was clean. It smelled like oranges, so that meant it was still fresh in her book. As soon as she was completely dressed, she made her way out of her white-walled room and walked down the hall toward the kitchen. The entry way sat at the bottom of the stairs, to the right.

The curtains were open, and sunlight was pouring into the house, making the orphanage seem alive. It would have been deemed a pleasant day, but, to Alice, it was a morning of hell. She could hear the laughter of some children in the dining room, the sounds of utensils hitting their bowls and plates full of food. The smells of bacon and eggs filled the house, but it all made Alice feel sick. The only thought on her mind was orange juice.

She gradually made her way to the archway that led into the dining room. As soon as she was inside, two children called out to her.

"Alice!" they both squealed simultaneously. There was only pair of twins in the orphanage: Lea and Liam.

"You look awful," Mello spoke up from across the room.

"She had enough to drink last night to knock out an elephant," Matt added.

Alice couldn't defend herself due to the twins' voices currently echoing in her brain; though, if she could, the both of them wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Come sit next to me," Lea sang, taking her small hand and grabbing ahold of Alice's. Alice followed willing and sat down in a padded,wooden chair that was placed between the twins.

"Here you go, Alice!" Liam grinned, putting a cool glass of orange juice in front of her.

Alice looked at it with a sparkle in her eye. "Oh, Lea! Liam! Thank you!"

"We know you like orange juice, so it's no big deal."

"I'm surprised you haven't thrown up yet."

"I could come over there right now and throw up on you, if you like, Mello." Mello only glared back at Alice as she took a sip of her orange juice. She sighed inwardly with relief as the cold liquid ran down her dry throat.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Near asked. He was using two fingers to hold onto a fork as he poked at his eggs.

"I don't really remember much…ugh, my head."

"Would you like something to eat?" Lea asked.

"I can't think of food right now."

"Maybe next time, you'll think before you go get wasted."

"I swear to God, Mello, I'm going to come over there and shove this cup down your throat."

"I liked to see you try, alcoholic!"

"Alice isn't addicted to alcohol, Mello," Near stated, shifting Mello's anger from Alice to himself.

"Nobody asked you!"

"Well, I'm surprised you're not puking, seeing as how you ate three boxes of cereal last night," Matt chuckled with the sounds of his handheld game ringing in the background. The light from the screen reflected off his goggles that he wore over his eyes, making his face impossible to decipher.

Roger walked into the room. "Matt, please put your game away when you're at the table."

Watari walked in right behind him, taking in the table full of children. "Well, I'm glad to see you've joined us all this morning, Miss Alice."

Alice only groaned back, taking in another sip of her drink.

"Well now, everyone, I'm glad to see that all of you get along great with Miss Alice, and I would like to toast in the success of our newest member," Roger announced, smiling. He grabbed ahold of a glass of water and held it up in the air. Most of the children giggled and grabbed their glasses as well, save Mello, Near, and Matt, who grabbed their glasses unenthusiastically. There were also a few other children who didn't look to want to participate in the honor of celebrating Alice's arrival, but they certainly didn't want to go against Watari or Roger. Alice would have grabbed her glass too, if she wasn't already chugging her juice.

"To Alice!" Roger cheered.

"To Alice!" the rest repeated with joy. They all started to take a sip of their drinks.

Watari took this opportunity to give more good news: "And just so everyone knows, L will be returning in just one week to meet our newest member."

Everybody sprayed their drinks at the same time in surprise. Alice dropped her empty cup on the table and ran out the room into the kitchen, where she proceeded to puke in the sink.

"Dear Lord!" Miss Jane, the housekeeper, gasped from inside of the kitchen. The children in the dining room didn't seem to notice as they all choked on liquid that they had inhaled in their lungs.

"Well,Watari, what will L think when he comes back home?" Roger remarked, sighing as he watched the children around the table gag and cough. Watari only responded with the same sigh.

* * *

_And there you have it folks! The beginning of a beautiful story in which will hopefully blossom to a long well thought out storyline laced with humor and romance. Review anyway you wish for I am a big girl and can handle what ever is given to me. Except for marshmallows...for whatever rhyme or reason those little fluffy f*$#ers make me sick. **Tootles!**_** :D**_**  
**_


	2. HideandgoSeek Morphs into Tag

**Welcome to Chapter two of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!**

I'm your host, Wisty!

Please enjoy the next few minutes as you set your mind on an adventure full of fear and fantastic humor.

Snacks will not be provided, so make sure to bring your own.

Enjoy!

_(I do not in any way, shape, or form, own Death Note)_

* * *

**Hide-and-go-Seek morphs into Tag**

"So who's this L guy?"

"You've lived here for over a month and you haven't heard of L?" Mello barked sitting up from the couch and looking over to Alice who was sprawled out on the floor.

"Well excuse me for not being an all knowing god like you,"

"L is one of the most famous detectives in the world, and he grew up here in the Wammy house. All of us are here to train to be his successors," Matt answered, interrupting Mello's thought to retaliate.

"Wait a minute. I have to become a detective?"

"Well the likelihood you will ever have to work as a detective is about 0.3%" Near chimed in from the corner of the room as he tinkered with a plastic robot.

"Oh, well that's fine then," Alice cooled down. "Though somehow I feel insulted…"

"Alice! Alice!" Lea yelled running into the room. Everyone except for Near looked at the little girl as she made her way over to Alice.

"What is it Lea?"

"Come play with me!"

"Do I have to?" Alice sighed, lying her head down on the rug.

"Yes!"

Four other younger kids then ran into the room, bounding their way to Alice. They all laughed and giggle as they pulled on her arms.

"Hey brats get out of here, you're loud!" Mello shouted over the laughter.

"Let's go Alice!" A six year old boy named Charlie laughed. Slowly, all five children were starting to pull Alice to the door by her arms. Alice's eyes went wide with surprise, amazed by how strong the children were.

"Help! I'm being kidnapped, literally!" Alice shouted out playfully. All the kids laughed with her as they continued to pull her out of the room. Mello sat back on the couch and grumbled with annoyance. Someday he was going to leave the house and he couldn't wait for that day to come. Matt just continued on with his game, a smile spread across his face as he listened to their laughter.

"She fits in well, doesn't she?" Near said, holding up the robot with two fingers.

* * *

"Ready or not, here I come!" Alice shouted, giving every child that ran and hid an indication that she was on her way. She knew that at the age of 20, hide-and-seek was juvenile, but it made the children happy, and she owed the Wammy house her life. If it wasn't for Watari, she would still be out on the streets in Europe traveling to find what Watari had given her.

"Alright you little monsters, where are you hiding," Alice pondered, looking around the kitchen carefully to try and spot any life. She slowly opened each and every cupboard, moving some of the food or cooking utensils aside to see if any of the children were hiding inside.

"Alice, out of the kitchen, Lunch will be prepared soon and,...what in god's name are you doing?" Miss Jane exclaimed. Alice turned around with surprise and closed the cupboard behind her quickly.

"Nothing, just looking for children," Alice explained, but then took a second to think about what she just said.

"You're not going to find children in there, so out with you," She ordered, pointing to the door. Even though the woman was in her late 50's she still had a youthful personality of a 30 year old. She did more work around the house than anybody else along with prepare each meal of the day. She was like the superhero of all the housekeepers.

"Yes of course, excuse me," Alice smiled, side stepping to the door and then pushing her way out quickly. Miss Jane may have looked like a nice looking women with light brown hair hooked into a bun and knee length floral dress with an apron, but deep down inside she could be strict and malevolent. As long as you stayed on her good side, she would show you unconditional love.

Alice continued out into the dining room and then walked through the archway into the entrance way. The sun was still bright through the windows and the sky shined a nice clear blue color. Taking in a deep breath, Alice made her way to the stairs.

By the time she reached the top of the stairs she felt less confident then before. The house was large and the kids she had to find had IQ's higher than her own. It wasn't going to be an easy task to find them, so she knew she was going to need the help of a good detective. Luckily she just learned the whole house was full of them, so it wasn't going to be hard to find one.

"Door number one I guess," Alice started as she walked over to one of the many wooden doors that graced the hallway. As she was about to reach for the handle, the door swung open to reveal Mello standing there with a chocolate bar hanging from his mouth.

"What do you want?" He grumbled, not even taking the bar out of his mouth to speak properly. Matt sat down in the background playing his handheld game like he always did. The sounds of his system fill the silence in-between.

"I'm going to need your help," Alice stated, not letting Mello's mood get in the way of her hunt.

"Like I would help you," He glared. Alice didn't even continue to ask. She grabbed hold of a chunk of the blondes' hair and pulled him out of the room. "HEY! LET GO OF ME!" He screamed, dropping his chocolate bar to the floor.

"You two seem to get along well," Matt spoke, not looking up from his game. Alice ignored them both and shut Mello's door, preventing him from running back inside. Mello swiftly kicked Alice in the shin, using his black leather boot.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Alice cringed, holding on tighter to Mello's hair while she lifted her right leg up to relive pressure.

"LET GO OF ME!"

Alice pulled him down the hall to the next door to continue her search. She had to limp though since Mello had giving her a pretty good bruise, and whether Mello was going to come willingly or not was not going to stop her. She stopped at the second door and got herself ready, still struggling to keep a good grip of his hair. She knew some of the kids didn't like their room to be messed with, so sometimes they laid traps. Alice wasn't going to be the one to fall into them, so as Mello continued to struggle, Alice quickly pulled open the second door and pushed Mello in front of her. The sound of a metal wire snapped and an egg flew right into Mello's face with a loud _crack_. Yolk proceeded to run down his face. Inside the room sat Alex, or "Tinker" as he liked to be called. He was the 12 year old inventor. He always wore raggedy overalls and an orange T-shirt with his dark brown hair spiked up to keep out of his face. His inventions were incredible, but he only built what he believed to be fun, so most of the time they just benefited him.

Tinker's face went pale as he watched the yolk slide down the now stiff-as-a-board Mello. It was the last person who he ever wanted to get angry, and the guy was standing at his door with egg on his face.

Alice slowly unhooked her hands from Mello's hair and brought it to her side. She looked to Tinker's wide fearful eyes and then took in a deep breath.

_"RUUUUNNNNNN!"_

Tinker dashed past Mello and quickly followed Alice down the stairs. Mello didn't even take a second to follow them, trailing behind close, ready to tear them both apart.

"GET BACK HERE!" He screamed with rage as he wiped the rest of the egg off his face. Alice grabbed hold of Tinker's hand and helped him ran faster, making their way through the entrance way and into the dining room.

In the kitchen, Watari stood at the counter cutting an apple into slices. He quietly took the knife and made once perfect slice and placed it onto a plate located next to the cutting board. The silence was broken by the door to the kitchen bursting open with both Alice and Tinker running for their lives.

"Mello's going to_ KILL_ us Watari! Stop him!" Alice shreeked as she made her way past Watari and out through the back door, slamming it against the wall and causing the house to vibrate. The back door stayed sprawled open, letting a draft fill the kitchen.

"Mello wouldn't kill you…," Watari tried to say to them both, but before Watari could finish his thought, Mello burst into the kitchen with his nostrils flared and eyes wide with rage.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He roared, making his way out to the backyard where the other two screamed bloody murder.

Watari sighed and garbed hold of his cream color handkerchief. He seemed to be using it a lot more lately ever since Alice had joined the orphanage. As he wiped his forehead with the smooth piece of fabric, the cell phone in his pocket buzzed with activity. He quickly put his handkerchief away and pulled out his phone.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Watari, change of plans," L's voice rang over the receiver. Watari blinked with surprise but let L continue. "I've solved the case fairly early so I will be arriving tomorrow in the afternoon,"

Watari paused with hesitation. He was delighted to hear that L had finished early but at the same time he couldn't help but sweat at the idea of L coming so soon and seeing how the orphanage has changed. Taking a quick look out the window in front of him, Watari watched as Alice ran across the lawn screaming at the top of her lungs while Mello followed in suit, almost tripping over Tinker who had previously tried to pull out a weapon that fired a net, but had blown up in the wrong direction and had trapped himself instead. At that point he was on the lawn struggling to try and break himself free from his own invention.

"Watari?" L spoke, breaking Watari away from the chase outside.

"Ah, yes, very good L! We all can't wait for your return. Fly home safe," He stammered a little, but composed himself well enough for L to accept. He then hung up his phone knowing the conversation was over and looked out the window again.

"LITTLE WARRIORS! I NEED BACK UP!" Alice shouted, running the other way across the window as Mello continued to chase her. Seconds later children poured into the kitchen and ran outside to the backyard. Each one of them was shouting out a battle cry. Mello stopped in his tracks and stared wide eyed at the kids that were running at him. Before he could break away, the kids jumped and tackled him to the ground grabbing hold of his arms and legs so he could not escape. Alice stopped running and turned to look at her little soldiers work.

"GET OFF ME YOU BRATS!" Mello screamed from under all the kids as they laughed for joy. For them, it was one of the best games they could ever play. It wasn't often they got a chance to dog pile Mello, and they weren't going to stop until they were satisfied. Alice of course stayed off to the side and laughed hysterically, holding onto to her stomach since the pain from running before pounded in her chest.

Watari sighed once more at the site. He only had one day to prepare, and at that moment one of L's top choices to be his successor was being overtaken by children half his size and age, the newest member of the house had gained power to dictate the smaller children, the sink still needed a good rub down from the morning's accident, and just last night Alice had already made her first impression to L, completely and utterly wasted.

As hectic as the situation was, Watari wasn't the type to give up. All he could do was take a deep breath and organize his thoughts. The preparations were going to be a nightmare.

* * *

**Thank your for reading!**

Make sure to dispose any trash in the trash cans provided outside.

I hope to see you again soon!

_Bye!_


	3. I'll Have my Cake and Wear it too

Welcome to Chapter 3 of _An Ace up My Sleeve_!

Anybody hungry? Because Alice has a wonderful surprise for all of you in this chapter!

_(That sounded corny...I try to say savvy things but I don't think I have the hang of it...)_

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Oh, and I don't own Death note, sooo...yeah...)_

* * *

**I'll have my Cake and Wear it too**

The morning of L's arrival was hectic. All the children had to clean their rooms, along with help clean the rest of the orphanage. It was a sea of children running back and forth from room to room with masks over their faces and bottles of cleaning spays in their hands. Doors were being opened and closed every two seconds along with some of the children shouting out their location so other children could find them. Alice had only been living at the Wammy house for a little over a month with not much to call her own, so her room was just as empty as it was the day she moved in; with the exception of a few cloths she obtained over time, located in her closet.

Since Alice had nothing to do, and did not feel compelled to _freak_ out like the other children about L's arrival, she decided to occupy her time with baking. She heard from Watari that L preferred sweet's, so to apologize for her drunken state the last time she spoke with him, she was going to bake a cake. She wasn't a professional baker, but she didn't think baking a cake would be all that hard.

Alice stood quietly in the kitchen by herself, looking around at all the cupboards. The first step she took to bake the cake was to grab every ingredient she believed went into baking a cake. So with lightning quick speed, she went through every cupboard and drawer and found different powders and liquids in which for her qualified as ingredients.

"What are you doing?" Matt appeared, walking into the kitchen from the dining room. He was skipping out on the cleaning as well. He looked down on the kitchen island and noticed bags of flour, sugar, and other random ingredients displayed about.

Alice turned to face him, but then had a mini panic attack when she saw his face.

"Who are you?"

Matt only gave her a blank stare, not really phased by her outward freak out.

"I'm Matt you dork, I'm not wearing my goggles right now," He then explained, pulling out his goggles from his back pocket to prove his identity. Alice heaved a sigh of relief.

"I thought you might be L or something."

"That's how you would greet L? …Classy"

"Yeah, well, I'm going to bake him a cake, so suck it!"

Matt only smiled at the girl's enthusiasm.

"Do you know how to bake a cake?"

"It can't be that hard," Alice stated, not looking worried in the least.

"Why do you have pancake mix with your ingredients?"

"What, that won't work?"

Matt sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Do you have a recipe you can follow?"

"Recipe?"

"Oh, geez," He slapped his forehead. He then maneuvered his way over to her and grabbed one of the aprons hanging on the wall. He pulled off one for her as well and shoved it into her hands. "Here, you're going to need that."

Alice stiffened at the site of the frilly flowered mess of an apron.

"This one looks like a housewife threw up on it."

"Take what you get and don't complain. Now, we need to find a recipe," Matt explained as he tied on his apron. Alice frowned but tied on hers none the less. The kitchen door then creaked opened, making Alice jump with surprise.

"How about this one?" Near chimed in, opening the door the rest of the way to reveal his pale skinned self. He held up what looked like a note card that had the label 'Chocolate Strawberry Cake' written on the top. Even though the boy could have been cleaning, he decided it would be more entertaining to see what Alice was up too.

"Where did you get that?" Matt questioned, staring at the small piece of parchment in the albino's hand.

"Miss Jane's recipe book."

"That's not good. If she finds out you've been snooping around her things she will have your head staked to the ground outside and have the crows come and eat your eyes."

"That's a pretty detailed punishment," Alice shivered, painting a picture of it in her mind.

"Yeah well she likes to be specific,"

"Well what she doesn't know wont stake her head to the ground and cause crows to eat her eyes out. Thank you Near, I owe you one," Alice smiled. She then took the recipe from him and looked at the ingredients list. Near grabbed a chair from the table and brought it over to the island where all the ingredients were laid out. He took a seat on his chair and started to twist his hair with his finger just like he would always do when observing.

"All right, this won't be hard; all we need that I don't see here on the counter are eggs and some strawberries," Alice grinned, taking a look at what was on the island.

"You pulled out pancake mix but not eggs?" Matt chuckled again, not understand how the girls' mind worked.

"I didn't know you needed eggs to bake a cake."

"Oh geez,"

"You say that a lot,"

"What are you guys doing?" Mello interrupted, walking into the kitchen sounding even more irritated. Of course he was avoiding cleaning the house to, but he was more interested in where Matt had gone. He looked around the room and spotted Near sitting on the chair placed in front of the island full of ingredients. He then looked to both Alice and Matt who were wearing the aprons they put on just a few seconds ago. Putting it all together in his head, he came to a not so happy conclusion.

"Oh geez," He sighed.

"Okay, now it's just getting annoying,"

"You guys aren't seriously going to bake? Shouldn't you just leave that to the housekeeper?" Mello questioned, looking a bit dazed by the fact that his friend Matt was wearing an apron.

"She's busy right now, and I want to do this." Alice answered him.

"That apron really brings out your eyes Alice." Near observed, ignoring Mello's presence all together.

"Why thank you Near. You see Mello, Near understands me, so why don't you go bother somebody else,"

Mello's eyes twitched with aggravation as he glared over at Near. The boy was obviously sucking up to Alice to later get a piece of cake, and Mello wasn't going to have it.

"I'm helping," he ordered, not caring what her answer was going to be. He then walked over to the aprons and grabbed one just like Matt's.

"What?" Alice blurted out. It wasn't often Mello participated in something that involved other people, so it was hard for her to understand what he just demanded. As he finished tying on his apron, he quickly grabbed the note card from Alice's hand and held it up to his face.

"So what do we do first?"

"Hey, not so fast, I will read the directions here! It was my idea to make the cake in the first place." Alice huffed, taking back the note card from Mello. As her frustration died down, she looked down at the first step, taking in every word carefully.

"Alright guys, we need a large mixing bowl and a mixer…"

All of the boys stood where they were, except for Near who just continued to sit and observe. None of them made any sudden movements as to proceed with finding what she asked for.

"Guys come on, bowl, mixer, anything?"

"We don't know where any of that is," Matt claimed.

"How often do you think we cook?" Mello sneered. Alice slammed her head on the counter with frustration.

"That physically looked painful," Near remarked as he watched Alice lift her head from the counter, a small red bruise now formed on her forehead.

"Fine, I'll go find them," She huffed, squatting down and opening the first cupboard she could reach. The sounds of pots and pans shuffled as she pushed them around to find what she was looking for. Matt shrugged his shoulders and opened up a set of different cupboards to help with the search. Mello groaned but made his way to the refrigerator. He pulled out a few eggs and the strawberries needed for the cake.

"FOUND IT!" Alice shouted with joy, but a loud thump vibrated the island seconds later, shaking the pancake mix box over onto its side. "FRICK!"

Matt turned around quickly to find Alice sitting on the ground holding the top of her head with both hands. Her face was scrunched up in pain.

"Dude," he laughed lightly.

"Wow that hurt," she whined, rubbing her head softly. Mello picked the large bowl off the ground that Alice had found, and set it on the table. Matt held his hand out to Alice, and she gladly accepted his help. The pain only lasted a few more seconds and Alice was back into action.

"Okay, now the mixer," She declared looking around the room. Near shifted in his seat and twisted his hair with his finger. Alice noticed his eyes looking down at the counter in thought. "You know something, don't you," She prodded, leaning up close to him and poking him in the shoulder with her finger. Near looked into her Golden/hazel eyes with his own pitch black ones and twirled a curl of his hair once.

"The mixer is located 40 degrees north of your peripheral vision."

Alice grinned and turned her head to the right while both boys turned their head to the left. Mello groaned and grabbed hold of Alice's head and turned her head back to the left where Near stated the mixer was located. Indeed a large red mixer with its bowl sat in the corner of the kitchen.

"There it is!" Alice cheered, running over and grabbing it with both hands. She pulled it out of its corner and heaved it to the island. It was fairly large so they had to remove some of the unnecessary ingredients off the counter to make it fit.

"Where the hell did you find candy canes? It's July." Mello asked, holding a bundle of red and white candy canes.

"Does that matter, just get rid of them so we can bake this sucker," Alice waved him off, plugging in the mixer. "Now we need to mix boiling water and cocoa!"

"I've got the water started on the burner," Matt proclaimed.

"Here's the chocolate," Mello responded, handing over a small box of chocolate cocoa. As soon as the water got to the necessary temperature, Alice dumped in the cocoa and handed it to Mello.

"Stir!" She demanded. Mello grunted but took the wooden spoon anyway. He wasn't against chocolate, so he didn't mind all that much.

Alice continued on with the next step which was beating the sugar, eggs, and vanilla together in the mixer. Matt poured in the sugar, which grabbed Near's attention automatically. For some odd reason he was fascinated by the little crystallized pebbles. Alice got him out of his hypnotized state by handing him one egg. Near looked at the white round object in front of him and then back up at Alice in question.

"It looked like you wanted to help, so you can put that egg in," Alice smiled pleasantly. She was not unaware of Near's presence and she felt he should be a part of the fun.

Near picked up the egg with two fingers and examined it carefully. Matt picked up another egg and was the first to crack it open and drop its contents inside the mixers bowl. Near followed next, arching his back forward over the island and cracking the egg into the bowl. Alice grinned and then handed an egg over to Mello. Mello gave it glare and stopped mixing the chocolate.

"Forget it,"

"Oh come Mello, it's like the best part!"

"Only you would think that Alice," Matt snickered to himself. Alice didn't hear Matt's statement as she continued to probe Mello into cracking the egg.

"I'm not some four year old!" Mello retorted, pushing Alice's hand with the egg away. Alice frowned and cracked the egg herself.

"What crawled up your pants this morning?" she grumbled, adding one last egg. Mello took the wooden spoon he used to stir with and wiped it on Alice's forehead, leaving a smear of chocolate right above her brow. Alice gasped with surprise as Mello pulled the spoon away. She then turned sharply towards Mello and picked up an egg.

"Don't!" He shouted, staring at the egg in her hand in horror. Without giving him any warning, she smashed the egg over his head, letting the yolk slide down slowly. He clenched his teeth in discomfort while Alice wiped her hands in victory.

"Alright, shall we continue?" She turned back to the other two with a smile.

"I HATE EGGS!" Mello erupted, going over to the sink to try and wash out the egg in his hair. It was harder to get out then last time since his hair was covered in it.

Matt just stared at Mello as he tried to rid himself of the egg in his hair. He shook his head, not understanding how his friend could continue to piss off Alice even though he knew she always got back at him. Near didn't even pay attention to the fight as he pointed to the small bottle with vanilla in it.

"I believe the next item to pour in is this,"

"Yes, of course Near!" Alice sang as she grabbing the bottle. For some reason she enjoyed when Near spoke. He didn't do it often, so it was a rare treat for her ears. Especially when he spoke freely, which was even more uncommon.

Taking a small spoon full, she poured it into the bowl.

"Looking good, now for the chocolate! Mello?" She began, looking over to Mello who was right beside her with a wet mop stuck to his head. He managed to get all the egg out, but unfortunately he could not find a towel to dry his hair. Alice snorted once to hold in her laughter and Mello just gave her a death glare.

"Get it yourself," He hissed. Alice grabbed the pan with the mixture carefully, not wanting to upset Mello even more. Her smile still occupied her face, but she controlled her laughter well enough for Mello not to throw a fit.

When she finished pouring the chocolate mixture in, she pulled out the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

"Last but not least we have to add these."

"Then we mix it all together?" Matt asked, grabbing the note card to see. As he read the last two steps, Alice poured in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Matt looked to the bowl and then back at the recipe. "Wait, it said here we were supposed to mix the other stuff together before we add the powders,"

Alice shrugged her shoulders without a care in the world.

"It was all going to mixed together anyway, so who cares,"

Both Matt and Mello groaned and took a step back from the mixer.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Mello mumbled, drips of water still running off his locks of hair.

"What's there to worry about?" Alice chuckled.

Matt pulled out his goggles from his back pocket and put them on over his eyes.

"We are just mixing ingredients guys, it's not like the ingredients are going to jump out and bite us."

The two stepped back once more to give Alice more room. Alice just sighed and looked at the side of the large machine to find a switch to turn it on. She located the little black plastic switch sticking out on the right.

"There you are," She smiled. She enclosed her fingers over the plastic and pulled it all the way down.

The mixer exploded with speed, which spewed out the powders sitting on the top of the batter. The powders hit everyone that stood around the island, giving everyone a small layer of white powder coated over their skin and cloths.

"HOLY SHIT!" Mello shouted. His face was pure white. Matt puffed out a mouthful of powder and continued to cough. Alice frantically tried to find the switch again, but the powder that clung to her face made it almost impossible to see. She shouted out in distress as her hand traced the machine for the switch. Seconds later when the powder on the top had run out, the chocolate batter came next. Near got a face full of the batter, making what used to be pure white skin and hair, a chocolate brown. He didn't even make any sudden movements to get away. He just continued to sit and wait it out, knowing it was going to end soon. Both Matt and Mello grew tired of Alice's attempts to turn it off and pulled her out of the way. They were able to find the switch fast and turn off the machine with one flick.

The aftermath looked like a chocolate pudding cup exploded in the kitchen. Then it snowed for a minute to top it off. Near stayed very still as some of the chocolate batter ran down his nose and chin, making contact with the counter only seconds later. Matt wiped away some of the batter off his goggles, but the damage still left a thin layer smudged on.

Mello tried to scrape out the batter that stuck to his hair. The egg was bad enough, but at that point he was pissed. If at any moment he ever regretted having longer hair, it was that day.

Alice stared down at the chocolate batter that coated the mixer and everything else around it. She knew that she was in trouble, but she couldn't force herself to look up at the rest of the kitchen to process the damage.

"My word!" They all heard Watari gasp. All of them looked over to find Watari and L himself standing at the entrance to the kitchen. The boys went pale while Alice's cheek flared up in embarrassment.

L quickly photocopied the image he saw before him into his memory. The first thing that caught his eye was the young woman covered from her torso up in chocolate. The batter dripped from her pink nose, not hiding the fact that she was completely embarrassed. Her hair was also covered in white powder and chocolate, sticking together in chunks. It had accomplished to stick to her pink cheeks and round forehead. Her eyes showed fear and discomfort as they stared down L's own amused black ones.

The other three that stood there with their mouths open didn't interest L at all, though he couldn't help but think they all looked a little ridiculous.

Watari could not find his voice as he looked around the chocolate covered kitchen. That was last thing he wanted L to see when he got back, but unfortunately L's first experience back home was one of Alice's many disastrous moments.

The room stayed silent for a couple more awkward seconds until Alice couldn't take it anymore.

"Look at what you've done Mello!"

"WHAT?"

Watari pulled out his handkerchief and held it to his forehead.

* * *

I want to thank the two who reviewed my Story!

**.cake**: I'm so glad you like her! I agree with you about some of the depressing stories, which is why I decided to write this one. I've had the idea for a while now, so I'm glad it's turning out good! Thank you!

**Other reviewer: ** YAY shes popular! There will be plenty more comedic moments in which I hope you will enjoy. Thank you!


	4. Interrogation and new identification

Welcome everyone to the 4th chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve!_

L has finally showed up to the Wammy house! (YAY!)

Please enjoy the story and tell me what you think.

_(disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**Interrogation and New Identification**

Matt took the sponge in his hand and scrubbed the floor as hard as he could. He didn't know cake batter was so hard to clean up until he had to experience it himself. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand to get rid of the perspiration, and then looked over to Mello who was scrubbing one of the cupboards. He was scrubbing so fast that the paint was starting to peel off.

"This is a waste of time!" He growled. Both Matt and Near have been hearing him complain for ten minutes already, and it didn't look like he was going to stop any time soon. The only solution Near could use to tune out Mello was to concentrate on cleaning what was in front of him. He pushed around a sponge with one finger to clean up the island counter. He was still seated in the same chair as before, but it was the only way he could clean properly.

"You're not even helping!" Mello then barked at Near. Near looked over at Mello, but then went back to work, ignoring Mello's anger all together. He was more than used to it, so he was completely unfazed by Mello's harsh tone. That just pissed off Mello even more. All in one motion, Mello threw the sponge he was using at Near, hitting him dead center in the face. Near froze immediately, unsure of what to do as it slid slowly down his face.

Miss Jane crashed open the kitchen door, causing the sponge to fall off Near's face and hit the counter with a _splat_. She shouted at all of them to get back to work.

When she found out about her kitchen, she was no longer the nice woman who baked cookies and read stories to children. Instead, she was the evil dictator who believed everyone was beneath her. So the grunt of the work was passed down to the ones who she believed were the lowest of the low, and that was Matt, Near, and Mello.

After she finished her shouting, she returned back to her layer were there she would lie and wait for the next innocent soul to mess something up. As Mello returned to his work, he couldn't help but think of the one who was missing. He could feel the rage build inside him like a volcano. As five minutes went by, he started to turn red. By the sixth minute he erupted.

"WHY THE HELL IS ALICE NOT HERE HELPING?"

* * *

The room was lit by one single lamp located on the ceiling above the coffee table. The walls were lined with bookshelves, each carrying a record amount of literature. In the center sat a blue fabricated couch along with two matching chairs on each side. The coffee table sat in the middle to leave a border between each amenity.

Alice sat on the chair located to the left of the couch. She used the wet rag provided for her to clean off her face full of white powder and chocolate. Of course, the only way to completely get rid of it was to take a shower, but she made due with what she had.

L sat on the couch in his normal manner of making himself look as small as possible. His thumb was placed against his lips and his eyes were locked onto the woman cleaning her face. It was his first time meeting her in person, and at first he did not know what to think. She was different from all the other children that lived there. She had the ability to be charismatic to complete strangers and charm in and around anyone she wanted. Of course, her knowledge about the world was limited, but that didn't seem to stop her. She accepted the fact that a six year old was more brilliant than her. All together, she was a mystery to L in which he had to solve one way or another.

"So…you are the famous L everybody keeps talking about," She spoke first, finishing up with what she could get off her face. Her hair was still a complete mess, but there was nothing she could do about that.

"I wouldn't consider myself as 'famous', seeing as how nobody except for those who live in the Wammy house know what my face looks like, but yes, I am L."

She gave him a curious look, but smiled anyway, not at all fazed by his unique personality. In fact, she compared L to Near, who had some of the same unique quirks.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you L."

"Miss Alice, I believe you arrived here on June 21st at 9:53 pm, am I correct?"

Alice gave him a blank stare, not understanding why L had brought the subject up. She pressed her lips together and stared into his wide open black eyes. If she were to have met him a little over a month ago, she would have been uncomfortable under his gaze, but since she's been brought to the Wammy house, nothing seemed to surprise or scared her anymore. She then wondered to herself if that was what a real family was like.

"Miss Alice," L spoke, taking Alice out of her train of thought.

"Yes, that's right, though I couldn't clarify the time being right. It might have been 9:54 pm," she chuckled, thinking to herself how specific L had been. If he would have added seconds to the time, she would have probably just laughed out loud right then and there. Of course, she was glad she was able to control herself seeing as how the last time they both spoke she was completely off her rocker.

L smiled on the inside, knowing she just mocked him. He found the girl amusing. The ability she had to throw any unpleasant mood away and change it to something more upbeat was fascinating. On the other hand, L had to continue the interrogation. There were still many more questions he needed answers to.

"The day you were discovered by Watari, you were living in an abandoned barn located just outside of Salisbury. May I ask how you ended up at that location?"

Alice paused for a moment, taking in what L had just asked. It was a touchy subject, so she had to mentally prepare herself for the story.

"It was actually my third month living in that Barn," She began. L was surprised to hear her answer so quickly. Another observation he mentally wrote down in his mind was her ability to share life experiences to anybody who asks her. She was somebody who was not afraid to give herself away.

"Before I lived in the barn, I had gotten into a fight with my parents. I'm sure you already know who they are." She continued, looking down at her fingers. L had known who they were. Even before she arrived he knew. They were a well known wealthy couple. Through his research and basic common knowledge about politics, he discovered the _Winster_ family name to be legendary. There pedigree was of one of the highest throughout England, and the couple themselves were well known for their travels around the world.

"Yes, I am aware of who they are." L answered, listening intently to the story to get every detail. "Can you explain what you were arguing about?"

Alice sighed with frustration, thinking back to that time with her parents.

"Let's just say they wanted me to be something in which I wasn't. They were never around anyway…"

L noticed her last sentence carried some heartache. The bright hazel/golden eyes that sparkled just a few minutes ago became dull.

"Without the presence of your biological mother and father in your adolescent years, you didn't feel obligated to listen to them. The authoritative figure in your life was most likely the nanny who was hired by your parents. Logically speaking, the corruption was going to happen eventually."

Alice couldn't help but smile at L's explanation. He was right of course, but she couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips.

"Do you find something I said inaccurate?"

"No, everything you said was right, I'm just wondering why you're asking questions in which you already have the answers to?"

"I merely wish to clarify my research," He responded, relieved to know that her unhappy mood had lifted. Alice shrugged it off her shoulders, but the smile still stayed upon her lips.

"Well anyway, after me and my parents fought, I just ran away. I made it to the barn after that."

L drifted his eyes down in thought, processing the information periodically. Calculating the distance between the barn and her house, he discovered she had to travel 86.89 kilometers, or 54 miles. He knew she had no vehicle since Watari found her with practically nothing, so it amazed him how far she went with what little she had.

"That must have been difficult to travel by yourself," L stated, hoping to hear different.

She shook her head and looked up to her left to recall her memories.

"No, when I reached the outskirts of Oxford, I met a nice homeless man. He was the one who showed me how to ride a train without getting caught and thrown off,"

Again, L noted her ability to trust and befriend anybody she met. That was of course also an ability that could lead to danger if not looked after.

"What was this man's name?"

"He called himself _The Strong Man_." Alice chuckled, remembering her time with him when they traveled. Alice believed his name fit him perfectly. He was very large and muscular for a homeless man.

"You do realize he could have kidnapped you and forced your parents to give him a ransom,"

Alice stopped chuckling and stared at L, who looked very serious about the matter. Instead of his thumb being lightly placed over his lips, it was pressed in-between his teeth. At the site of that, she couldn't help but burst out laughing all together.

"What? HA HA HA HA!"

"I do not see the humor in kidnapping,"

"Wait, wait, so you are telling me that the homeless man who calls himself _The Strong Man_ could have kidnapped me? And then somehow found a way to contact my parents and force them to give him money for my safe return? Where would he hide me, inside of a circus where I would be forced to work as the girl on the high-wire?" She laughed, holding onto her stomach to try and keep herself steady.

L watched her as she continued to laugh, a small snort he noticed would sometimes escape her nose. It reminded him of their last conversation which brought a small smile to his lips. He was quick to stop though when he remembered why she was laughing in the first place.

"No matter how ridiculous the accusation is, the possibility still does exists, so I'm just giving you a warning now if you are ever faced with the same problem again." L explained, trying to get to what was important. He did enjoy the fact that she was laughing, but her safety was a far more important matter.

"Yeah, okay, I understand." She settled down, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"So after you met this _friend_ of yours, you traveled by train to Salisbury?"

"Yup, and that's when we parted ways,"

"Why didn't you stay with him?"

"We both just had different destinations we needed to get to,"

"You were actually going somewhere specific?"

"Yeah, I had a friend out in Salisbury that I hoped I could stay with,"

"So how come you were not with this friend?"

"Well I was heading to her house, but that's when I found the barn." Alice smiled, sounding as if she had found gold.

"Why did you choose that barn to live in?" L wondered, not understanding the logic in choosing a nonfunctional abandoned barn as opposed to a fully functional residential home.

"Well, at that time I had a real taste of being on my own, and I wanted to continue that feeling."

"So acquiring independence satisfied you enough to live in a broken down barn for three months?"

"Putting it generally, yes."

"Well I appreciate your corporation Miss Alice. I suppose we should end it here for now, but we will have to have another talk later this week." L then declared, taking the pressure from him thumb off his teeth. It was getting late, and he wanted to be courteous to the new member of the Wammy house.

"Oh, okay, I just have one question I want to ask you," Alice exclaimed, scooting herself more forward to show her determination.

"Go ahead, though I can't guarantee I will be able to answer,"

"When Watari found me, he said I could come live at the orphanage, but I'm not an orphan. In fact, I probably have more money to my name then most people. The thing I want to know is whether or not I will really be allowed to live here? I'm not as brilliant as the other children, and well, it's not like I have any other special skills…"

"Miss Alice," L held up his hand to stop her from continuing on. "Watari and I are completely aware of your situation, and it was settled the day you arrived. We would never bring somebody to this house in which we planned on getting rid of later on. As soon as you are a member of this orphanage, you are bound to it for the rest of your life. Do not worry Miss Alice, you are here to stay for good. "

Alice sighed in relief, sitting back into her chair with her hand over her forehead.

"Oh thank god."

"Would that be all the questions you have?"

"Well, no, but I'll just ask another day, I'm too happy to care anymore," She giggled, sitting back up again.

"Well there is only one last objective left before we depart,"

"Objective?" Alice giggled again.

"Using your real name outside of this house is forbidden, so you are going to need a nickname,"

Alice's spirits shot up even more at the word 'nickname'.

"Oh fun! I can choose one for myself?"

L nodded his head, curious to know what name she would come up with. Alice sat quietly in thought for a few seconds, going over different ideas in her head.

"I suppose 'A' is out of the question," She mumbled to herself, going through other names instead. L internally jumped at the name. He was surprised the name even escaped her lips in the first place.

"Why would you believe 'A' to be out of the question?" He asked cautiously. Alice turned her gaze over to him and stared for a few seconds, but then shrugged afterwards.

"Because it would be the most obvious nickname and I want my nickname to sound cooler,"

L let go of a breathe he did not realize he was holding. He was relieved that her answer ended up to be simple. He would have been worried if she had mentioned the real A who used to live in the Wammy house years ago. Not many knew about him, and those that did never mentioned him much to each other.

"Oh I got it!" She grinned, jumping up from her seat, and slightly scaring L from his thoughts. "Ace!"

"Ace?" L asked, testing the name himself.

"Yeah, just take the 'li' out of my name and you got Ace!" She declared proudly. On the inside, L was amused by her enthusiasm. Even though she didn't believe herself to be clever, L believed she thought to poorly of herself, for she was indeed more clever then she let on.

"Alright then Miss Alice, you are now officially Ace,"

Alice Smiled even more, a sense of pride filling up inside her, knowing that she was officially a part of the Wammy House. Before, when she learned that everybody's name was not their real name, she felt left out, as if she didn't belong to the special group of children. But since she had her own nick name, she gained more confidence in herself.

"I suppose that it is for the day, you should probably head off to bed now, it has gotten considerably late," L suggested, looking over to the closed door that lead to the hallway. Alice looked at L's interesting sitting position and his thumb ever so lightly placed upon his lips. He had been sitting like that the whole time they were talking and she wasn't disturbed by it in the least. Since she had gotten to speak with him without being intoxicated, she grew to like him even more. Her family life she had discussed about before was miserable, and since she moved into the Wammy house and met everyone, she felt a sense of peace. L was merely the last piece of the puzzle Alice had wanted in the new family she had joined. He had finally come, and she was going to enjoy every moment of it.

She said her good nights to L and then walked out of the room knowing tomorrow was going to be even better.

* * *

Good? Bad? You tell me.

I want to give thanks to those that have reviewed so far! You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear from reviewers like you!

**Pancake, naku, Sarah, firework: **I promise to update soon! I am really excited for the next chapter since the whole gang will be together!

**InvaderZamG.a.r: **The classics are always the best, and thank you, I was worried about that part, but I'm glad you liked it!

**Aoi Nami-chan: **I didn't even think of that, maybe I should do that in the future...(Thank you for the idea!)

**.cake: **I know right! I couldn't stop smiling to myself while I thought about it. I got some pretty weird looks that day too... (maybe I shouldn't try to write the story out in public...)

**Thank you everyone and I will see you all next chapter!**


	5. Fun in the Sun Part 1

Okay, I actually made the chapter too long, so I had to brake it into two parts...

It was just so much fun to write that I got carried away I guess.

Anyway, enjoy chapter 5 of _An Ace up my Sleeve!_

_(Authors note: She will still be called Alice at the orphanage. The nickname Ace will only be used outside of the Wammy house.)  
_

_(I don't own Death Note *Sad face*)_

* * *

**Fun in the Sun Part 1**

Mello sat down next to Matt at the dining room table. The rest of the children had already gotten their breakfast, and were off doing whatever they wanted. Near had not even come down at all, still sleeping up in his room. The boys had a long night cleaning the kitchen, and it showed. Both Matt and Mello could not even think about the food that was in front of them. Matt was too busy zoning in and out of consciousness while Mello could only think about the one who got away. Alice had completely avoided cleaning up the night before, leaving Mello to curse at her name every time he moved his sponge. The only reason Mello had even gotten out of bed that morning was to get back at Alice, and it was the only thing that was keeping him awake so far.

Fortunately he did not have to wait long. Moments later, Alice burst through the entrance way with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey guys!"

"I'm going to kill you!" Mello screamed, getting up from his seat and bolting after her. Alice's eyes enlarged with fright. She quickly booked it to the other side of the table opposite of Mello.

"Mello, calm down, can't we work something out?" she tried to bargain. Mello paused and gave her a glare which would have paralyzed her, but luckily she knew Mello well enough not to be intimidated. Seconds later, Matt thumped his head onto the table and proceeded to sleep. Even though a battle was taking place in front of him, he had no energy to enjoy it. He was out in a matter of seconds.

"First you blame the mess on me, and then you miss out on cleaning up altogether, so no, I'm not going to calm down!" He argued, as he tried to the right. Alice immediately darted away from him to keep her distance.

"You have every right to be upset with me, but come on, that was pretty funny right?" She chuckled, thinking back to the mess they had made.

Mello growled and tried the other direction, which jolted Alice out of her thoughts and moved her away from him again.

"Okay! Okay! I get it, so how about I owe you one. Anything you want, I promise," Alice offered. She then held her breathe, regretting every word she just spoke. Mello stopped right away and thought about it. The offer had a lot of potential and ideas were already starting to form in his head.

"Fine, you owe me." He smirked, a victory well deserved. Alice sighed, but figured herself to be lucky. It was never an easy task to negotiate with Mello, and luckily she had saved herself from a bloody beating.

"Well now that's cleared up, I have something I want to show you!" She perked up.

Mello looked at Alice questionably. If he knew Alice, it was most likely going to be something destructive or incredibly entertaining. Usually both would be the end result, but that never really mattered. Mello was hooked the moment she brought it up.

"What is it?"

"First you need to wake up Matt and Near, and then get your bathing suit on."

"What?" Mello blurted out, scaring Matt awake. Matt then relaxed by taking in a deep breath. For a second there, he thought the loud abrupt noise was Alice getting stabbed to death by Mello.

"Well there you go, now just wake up Near and then come to the backyard when you're ready!" She laughed. She then showed herself out of the dining room through the kitchen door, leaving Mello to his job.

As soon as she was gone and the room was quiet again, Matt slammed his head back onto the table, going back into his unconscious state.

"Matt!" Mello shouted, turning to his knocked out friend.

* * *

L sat quietly in front of his laptop, scrolling down a list of names for a case he planned on working on in the near future. Watari stood off to the side next to the window looking out to the backyard. His eyes were glued to the outside, unable to look away from the action that was taking place. L had noticed Watari's behavior and turned his gaze away from the computer. He had also been observing Watari ever since Alice joined the orphanage. Because of Alice's unique personality, Watari had to adjust his method of being a guardian in which surprised L. Out of all the years spent with the man, that was a side of Watari that was new to him.

"Watari?" L called out to try and get his attention.

"I find it amazing how much it's changed." Watari responded, not looking away from the window.

"You are referring to the influence Miss Alice has had over the orphanage, am I correct?"

Watari nodded his head.

"Yes, I agree with you," L nodded with him, thinking about the house and his friend. "I believe she has influenced the children in a positive manner."

Watari nodded his head again in agreement. She was a breathe of fresh air for Watari, even though she had already caused a lot of damage. Watari in truth, like the challenge Alice gave him. It has giving him an opportunity to learn how to deal with people like her.

L uncurled himself from his sitting position. He couldn't help but believe it was because of Alice's influence that he was standing up and heading over to the window. He did know that it was Alice Watari was watching. There was no other suspect who could have distracted Watari in such a manner other then L himself. And even when they spoke before, Watari didn't even look at him.

When L reached the window, Watari moved to the side to give L more room to see. He knew that there was no way to hide Alice's "bright ideas", so it was pointless to try and cover it up. Also, the idea of hiding something from L made Watari smile. That was completely impossible.

L peered outside and paused in surprise.

"She is very interesting indeed," He mumbled to himself.

* * *

It had almost seemed impossible for Mello to get the two boys up. Matt was particularly difficult, but Near was downright impossible. The fact that Mello had to go into Near's room disgusted him, but then he had to actually touch Near. The thought only caused Mello to gag. There was only a little bit of respect Mello had for Near, and that was solely based on Nears intellect. Other than that, he couldn't stand the kid.

Even though the objective had been frustrating, Mello had accomplished getting them both up long enough for them to get their swimsuits on and stand out in the kitchen. To Mello's enjoyment, when Near put on his swimsuit, he had fallen to the ground twice in a daze. All the trouble Mello had trying to get Near up, was well worth it to see him in that drunken state.

"So why are we in our swimsuits?" Matt asked with a yawn. He was awake but his brain refused to believe it. Mello turned to his friend with his arms crossed over his bare chest.

"Alice wants to show us something and she said to put on swimsuits."

"Since when have you started to listen to Alice?" Matt pondered. Mello shrugged off the question, not wanting to get into it any further. He asked himself that before when he was putting on his swim trunks, but he came to the conclusion that it didn't particularly matter anymore. You either went against Alice or went with her. There was no middle ground.

Near swayed a little but kept himself balanced enough to stand on two feet. Matt occasionally grabbed hold of Near's shoulder in fear of him tipping over.

"Alright, now to the backyard." Mello declared.

Mello led the way as the two boys followed. Matt had to grab hold of Near to keep him from falling, but otherwise they made it to the backdoor. As soon as Mello opened the door, Alice was right on the other side, a huge smile spread across her pink face.

"You guys are going to love this!" She exclaimed, pulling all three of them outside. Taking a closer look at the three of them, she could only smile even more. Both Matt and Mello were wearing traditional men's swim trunks but Near on the other hand had a t-shirt and shorts wetsuit with two white lines going down each side. The rest of the suit was pure navy blue.

"Near, that swimsuit is so cute!" Alice praised, eying the suit intently. Without any sudden warning, Near snapped out of his daze and looked up to Alice with round delighted eyes.

"Thank you."

"Are you kidding? It looks ridiculous!" Mello retorted, more upset that Near had gotten praised.

"The wetsuit is far more reliable then the swim trunks you are wearing. It provides thermal installation, abrasion resistance, and buoyancy. I would be considered far more prepared for whatever water activity Alice has planned for the evening then you."

Mello looked like he was going to stab Near in the gut. One of Mello's biggest pet peeves about Near was his use of useless facts to win at an argument. To Mello, Near was just showing off.

"So, shall we continue?"

"Why aren't you in a swimsuit?" Matt observed, looking at Alice's outfit of choice. She wore light jean shorts and a brown tank top that showed her pink shoulders, most likely due from the sun burning her skin.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I do not own a swimsuit yet, so this is the best I could do." She explained.

"Who the hell would be disappointed about that?" Mello scoffed, crossing his arms in the process. Matt raised his hand at this.

"Though I suppose this isn't too bad to look at," He then smirked, eying Alice in her tank top.

"I know, right! They're so perking in this top!"

"Dear god, shut up! I don't want to hear it!" Mello shouted, his face turning a light shade of pink. Alice dropped the topic, but couldn't help but think how much fun she was having with them all. Just another moment in which she will forever keep in her memories.

"Okay, well follow me then." She giggled. She took the three boys over to the black metal gate that had tall box shaped hedges surrounding on the outside. In the background, the boys could faintly hear the sound of children laughing, along with running water. Alice grabbed hold of the gates handle and faced the boys directly. "Boy's, I would like to introduce you to…" She then pulled the gate open, taking the green vine enclosing over it that blocked their view along with it. "…the best slip-and-slide ever created"

All the boys went speechless when they saw it. A normal slip-and-slide usually laid on the ground and stretched for maybe a few feet, but the slip-and-slide in front of them was much larger than that. It was a gigantic slide blown up to make it plush, and set down on a hill so the children could go down faster. The length of the slide could not be determined from where they stood, but they could already tell it was much longer than a few feet. There were blown up bumpers on each side so the kids could throw themselves onto the slide and not fear about falling off as they slid down.

"Come get a closer look, its genius!" She exclaimed, running over to the large structure. All the boys followed slowly, unsure how to approach the monstrous water slide. When Mello got a closer look, the structure then became more dynamic. The bumpers that bordered the slide had spatially placed holes that shot out water to make the ride down more fluent. Matt observed the length of the slide, and he was able to see the end down at the bottom of the hill. It was fairly long, giving it a few yards in length rather than a few feet. At the very end of it laid a shallow pool about the size of a large pond or small lake. Near was just in awe over the whole thing, not having any idea what really was in front of him.

"Freaken awesome right?" Alice spoke, braking them all out of there daze.

"How the hell did _you_ build this!" Mello snorted.

"I didn't build it, I just came up with the idea. Tinker did the building."

"How did you get Tinker to build this?" Matt wondered, knowing that Tinker tended to be very independent about his projects, and never built anything that didn't benefit him.

"I'm sorry, I must have not introduced myself yet, my name is Alice," Alice smiled, looking over to Matt.

"Yeah, okay never mind," He sighed, catching onto to her smart mouth.

All the children were outside in their swimsuits, laughing and chasing each other. Lea and Liam charged at the machine as fast as they could and both jumped at the same time, landing on their bellies and headed head first down the slide. Their laughter could be heard going all the way down. Linda, who was the eight year old girl who had the talent of being able to create extravagant art, grabbed Charlies' hand and moved over to be next in line to go down the slide.

The children who took a break from the slide were sitting off to the side at tables eating an assortment of snacks and treats. Umbrellas shrouded each table to block the sun's rays and help those with fair skin not to get burned. Since most of the children didn't get out a lot, they all spent a lot of time under the umbrellas. Alice however didn't mind the sun burn forming on her shoulders and face. She considered it a natural blush being applied to her cheeks by a healthy dose of vitamin D.

"Okay Mello, why don't you give it a go!" Alice announced, slapping Mello on his bare back and causing him to wince. Mello's eye twitched as he glared over at Alice. Alice's smiled disappeared immediately when she noticed Mello's sudden change in attitude. Seconds later, she started to run, knowing that if she didn't get away, Mello was going to kill her.

"Hey!" Mello shouted, running after her. Usually Alice was good at keeping her distance from Mello, but that time around, she found herself losing the race. Mello was determined to win, and it didn't take long for him to come up behind her.

"SHIT!" Alice cursed when she noticed Mello close behind her. Mello quickly wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and stopped her in her tracks. Pinning her arms to her sides, Mello lifted her of the ground and started to head towards the water slide.

"NO, no, no, no, no, no!" Alice panicked, trying to escape his grip. He may have been younger than her, but he was taller and far more physically fit.

All the children watched as Mello dragged her over to the slide. They all laughed and cheered, watching as Alice struggled in Mello's arms.

"You traders!" Alice shouted at all the children. The kids just laughed and cheered even louder.

When Mello reached the slide, he lifted her up even higher, and tossed over onto her stomach down the slide. She screamed as the water pulled her down the slide with incredible speed. At the end of the slide she covered her face with her arms to block the water that engulfed her. Waves sprayed from either side of her as she skidded across the shallow pond.

Matt and Near walked over to Mello and gapped at Mello's handiwork. When Alice came to a complete stop she tried to sit up in the water, but found herself falling over and causing the water to splash around her. She gasped for some air after having swallowed quite a bit of water on the way down.

"That was quite childish." Near stated, watching as Alice attempted to stand once again. Mello's eye twitched once more.

Seconds later Near was riding down the water slide on his back, water picking up on either side of him. Alice noticed him coming down and panicked. By the time he reached the shallow water, he smacked right into Alice, causing her to go back down into the water with a loud _splash_. Mello clapped his hands clean with the satisfaction of getting back at both of them. He never felt so content in his life. Matt was on his hands and knees next to him laughing uncontrollably. The whole act was so hilarious, that he couldn't even stand.

Alice gasped for air as she surfaced. Near was right on her lap and looking defeated. Water dripped from his hair in showers. The water only reached her waist when she sat down, but both she and Near were drenched from head to toe. Near's hair stuck to his face and Alice's hair was no different, clinging to her shoulders and neck. When she finally calmed herself down from the wild ride she just went through, she couldn't help burst out laughing. Even though Mello had finally accomplished at getting her back, she couldn't help feel the happiness building up inside her. Nothing like that would have ever happen back at her old home.

The children at the top of the hill saw that she was okay and all cheered at once. Wanting to join in the fun, all of them jumped onto the slide and started to go down at a rate Alice was not comfortable with.

"Dear god!" She panicked. The only thing she saw was a wave of children heading straight for her. With all the energy she could muster, Alice covered herself over Near to protect him. All the children collided together at the end with Alice, pushing both of them back further down the pond. Mello could hear them all laughing at once, each one of them having fun in the water with Alice. In the mix of that laughter came the snorts Alice would produce occasionally when she laughed. Mello couldn't help the smile that formed around his lips.

* * *

When I was typing this, I literally laughed out loud.

I hope you found it as funny as I did.

The reviewers I wish to thank:

**InvaderZamG.a.r: **Thank you! L as you probably already know a difficult character to write about, so I'm glad to know that I'm pulling him off.

**wenperson:** I'm glad you like her! I also think Near is adorable! That's why Alice has a soft spot for him. I mean who wouldn't, right?

**Evalyd Yamazaki: **Thank you! I'm so happy you think that way.

**Doko ni mo doko karatomo naku: **SWEET! *happy dance*

** little firework: **YAY! I'm glad that you can relate to her. I tried to make her as real as possible, so I'm glad you see her in that way.

All of your reviews have made me so happy! Thank you everyone!

_**P.S. **I just found out my title to this chapter rhymed...WOW I'm slow HA HA HA!_


	6. Fun in the Sun Part 2

Welcome to Chapter 6 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

It no longer rhymes all the way through, but don't let the title disappoint you. (HA, RHYMED!)

I assure you the story is still good! (At least in my opinion. Your reviews are what ultimately matter...)

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note)_

* * *

**Fun in the Sun Part 2**

"Ready, one…two..THREE!"

Both Alice and Mello booked it forward toward the water slide in an epic race to see who would make it to the end first. Mello fell back a few inches but they both managed to make it to the slide and jump on their stomachs to ride down the beast. Mello got the lead as the water pushed him down. At the very end, they both brought up waves of water in all directions, stopping they're downfall altogether.

Matt sat off at one of the tables and played with his handheld game, listening as Alice screamed out that she had won. He then heard Mello yell at her for being wrong and that he had obviously won the race. Their fight continued on for a while, but soon came to an end when children started to slide down toward them. They both screamed and jumped out of the water to avoid getting hit. Matt only smiled at the sounds of laughter coming from the twisted evil children that had just tried to hit them.

Near sat on the other side of the table with Matt, his hair finally dry after avoiding the water for a while. When he made it out of the pond with Alice, he immediately went for the shade and shook himself dry. He was happy that Alice had protected him, but he was not pleased with the fact that Mello and thrown him down the slide without any warning. He didn't believe he did anything wrong to disserve such a punishment. But since he was safe and sound under the protection of an umbrella, he was enjoying the past time more efficiently.

"Just give up Mello, I won and your genius little brain knows that!" Alice laughed, coming up the hill as water dripped from her hair and clothes.

"I have more witnesses to prove you wrong."

"Oh don't get all prosecutor on me blondie!"

"You're a blonde too you idiot!"

"Having fun you two?" Matt chuckled, looking away from his game and over to the both of them.

"The best! You should join us!" Alice grinned, jumping out of the argument faster than a bullet. Matt smirked at how hyper Alice had become. Also, the site of her completely drenched in water wasn't bad to look at either.

"I'm having fun right here watching you two."

"Oh please, you've just been staring at my ass the whole time."

"And that's fun," Matt snickered, going back to his video game.

"I find this scene to be very interesting," L's voice broke through the air. All four of them turned to look at the gate entrance and found L and Watari standing there with their eyes glued on the water slide.

"L!" Alice grinned, happy to know he was here to see the excitement. L turned his gaze over to the one who shouted his name. The first observation he made was the fact that Alice was completely soaked. She was wearing what was not considered to be swimwear, but she had gone into the water anyway. Putting his thoughts together, he concluded she was willing to do anything she pleased, no matter the condition.

"Did you get a good look at it, cause it's freaken brilliant," Alice praised herself as she moved her way towards L. As she got closer, L noticed the pink on her cheeks, nose, and shoulders. She was starting to develop a sunburn which didn't seem to cause her any alarm in the least.

"I must say I'm impressed Miss Alice." L responded, looking back to the large slide. Watari was also impressed, watching as some of the children jumped on and skim down the incredibly long slide. It pleased him to know that the children were having such a good time, and it was a side of them he had never seen before. They've played together before, but never at a level like that.

"You want to give it a go?" She grinned, hoping L would. L looked into her eyes and saw the hope emanating behind them. For a brief moment he almost thought about going down, but was quick to recover and remember how ridiculous that sounded in the first place. He was not one for physical activity if he could avoid it. Also, water wasn't something he particularly enjoyed. He never understood why people would play in water when it clearly gave those who swam in it, a disadvantage. Efficient locomotion was impossible, which left anybody in water a sitting duck for pray. Also the statistics on drowning alone would make any sane person avoid getting in large bodies of water.

"No thank you, I will just observe from a distance."

Alice huffed, disappointed in her new friend. In the back of her mind, she hoped he might have been the kind of person who would enjoy doing something like going down a giant water slide, but she had to accept the way he was. Of course, she wasn't about to give up on trying.

"That's so boring! I'll go down with you if you want?" Alice pleaded. L smiled at the girls' attempts to get him to go down the slide. She was persistent which was another trait he mentally took note off.

"As appealing as that sounds, I believe I will enjoy a piece of cake instead." He determined, scooting his way over to the table with all the snacks and treats.

"Do what you want then," Alice sighed. L ignored her sigh and found a cake suitable to his taste.

"Don't worry about him Miss Alice, That's just the way L is," Watari explained, hoping to lift Alice's spirits. Alice turned to Watari with a mischievous smile.

"You want to try?"

"Oh heavens no, I believe I'm too old for something like that."

Alice only laughed at Watari's answer. For her, fun never determined somebody's age.

L pulled up a chair in-between Matt and Near and placed the cake in front of himself. He sat down in his usual manner and picked up the fork to start eating. Both Near and Matt were frozen, unable to comprehend that the man who once only spoke to them from the computer, was sitting right next to them eating cake. They didn't get to see him for very long yesterday, seeing as how they had to clean the kitchen. So technically it was their first time up close to L. L noticed their stares and looked down at his cake.

"You cannot have my piece, but there is plenty still left over there." He stated, pointing over to the table with the cake on it. Near looked back down quickly to avoid embarrassment. Matt shuddered a little but found his voice quickly.

"Uh, no that's not it,"

"MATT!" Alice shouted. Matt jumped but looked back at Alice who was standing next to the slide. "PUT DOWN THAT STUPID GAME AND COME HAVE SOME REAL FUN!"

Matt pinched his nose and laughed to himself. If only she knew how dirty that sounded to him, but he couldn't let that idea get stuck in his head. Instead he waved her off in hopes she would leave him alone long enough to talk with L. Mello was standing next to her, giving her an awkward look. He felt for Matt, knowing they were both thinking the same thing.

"Do you find it hard to concentrate now that there is a young woman living at the house?" L broke through the tension. Matt turned back to L in surprise, not ready to hear a question like that come from him. Out of all the conversations he could have had with the greatest detective in the world, he had to bring up biological urges. As amusing as it was, Matt couldn't help but feel a little let down.

"Well, to be honest, Alice acts more a like a child then most of the children do,"

"I see, but on a physical level do you find it hard to focus?"

Matt rubbed the back of his head and laughed to himself. L was a lot more straight-forward then Matt had predicted.

"Well I don't find her unappealing if that answers your question."

"Yes, of course. Your honesty is refreshing."

"I enjoy Alice's company," Near finally found his voice as he pulled a toy car from out of nowhere and started to push it around on the table. L turned to his successor with interest. He knew Near to be about as social as he was, so it surprised him to even hear him talk without being asked a question.

"Does this distract you in any way?"

Near stopped pushing his car and looked up at L's eyes. L grew even more astounded. The confidence Near has obtained since the last time L had talked with him was incredible.

"I find my level of work to be the same as it was before Alice's arrival. She does not influence my studies in the least."

"I'm glad to hear that," L replied, looking back to his cake in front of him. Matt was only slightly freaked out by how similar the two were in front of him.

L glanced up from his cake to observe Alice. She ran across the lawn quickly, her eyes filled with adrenaline. Ten of the children were running right behind her, laughing and screaming out her name.

"Somebody help! The little monsters are going to eat me!" she cried out with laughter. The children giggled and started to make growling noises as if they were really monsters. She caught up to Mello and hid behind him to protect herself.

"Hey!" Mello shouted with annoyance.

"Protect me Mello!" She continued to play along. The children run up to Mello and made growling noises while using their hands like claws as they curled their fingers in distortion. Mello just gave them all a blank stare, unsure of what to do in that sort of situation. Alice saw that Mello was distracted and moved on to her next option of getting away.

"Sacrifice!" She declared loudly, pushing Mello forward and bolting the other direction. Mello almost hit the ground, but caught himself just in time. The children laughed and screamed as they ran past Mello and headed straight for Alice.

"Damn it Alice! Stop pissing me off!" Mello growled as he ran after her too.

"YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Alice freaked, just realizing that Mello had joined the children in chasing her.

"How long has Mello had murderous thoughts about Alice?" L spoke up, watching the chase go in the opposite direction. Matt looked over at the chase as well and chuckled.

"Probably the second day she had been living here."

"Does this not concern you?"

That was when Matt could no longer hold it in. He laughed at the thought of Mello trying to kill Alice.

"Mello would never have it in him to kill her."

"Is that so?" L mumbled, taking a bite of his cake and watching as Mello tried to catch up to her. Alice turned back around sharp and headed to the water slide in hopes it would bring her safety. When she jumped onto the slide, Mello grabbed her arm, forcing them both to plummet down the slide once more. All the kids stopped at the slide and watched as the two hit the bottom. Waves went in all direction as the two skated across the shallow water.

"L, I have some other business to attend to, is there anything you would like before I go," Watari asked from behind L. He had moved his way over to L when L was distracted by the chase.

"No thank you Watari," L answered him, eating another piece of his cake. Watari bowed once and then walk away back toward the house. As much as Watari wanted to stay and watch, he had to work. There were cameras set up everywhere anyway, so he could always go back and watch later if he wanted.

When Watari left the scene, both Alice and Mello appeared at the top of the hill, dripping water along the way. She lifted her eyes over to L and they both made eye contact for a few seconds. She was breathing more heavily from all the running she had just went through, but the smile never seem to leave her face. The children gathered around her, breaking away the connection L was having with her. They all laughed and spoke with her, along with Mello who looked like he wanted to get out of there quickly. She laughed with them, but waved them off to get away. She needed a break from it all and told them give her a few minutes to relax. When the children had agreed and finally dispersed, she looked back to L. L had never looked away from her, even as he ate, his eyes stayed right on her.

Alice, who was completely out of breathe and starving, decided it was time to take a break and grab something to eat. She noticed the snack table off to the side and her mouth started to water. She walked past Mello and headed toward the table full of treats.

"You've given up already?" Mello huffed, walking right behind her.

"Need food," She stated, not wanting to distract herself from her objective. Mello didn't push the subject any further and watched as she grabbed a plate full of different kinds of fruits. The one fruit she seemed to grab the most of was the oranges, but Mello knew she had an obsession with them. Every morning it was the same breakfast.

When she was satisfied with what she got, she then started to head over to the table where the other three boys sat. Mello was quick to follow, realizing that Near had a lot longer time with L then he predicted, giving him a larger disadvantage. If he was ever going to prove himself worthy of working by himself rather than having to team up with Near, he was going to need to appeal to L.

L watched as the two approached the table, questions formulated in his mind as they got closer. Matt noticed his friends approach and pushed out a chair with his foot. Mello took the chair and sat down quietly. Alice placed the food in front her and sat in-between Near and Mello. She was right across from L who still had his eyes glues to her. She clapped her hands together and stared down at the fruit in front of her as if it were a gift from heaven.

Mello looked at Alice and then down at the fruit. Before Alice could dive in, Mello grabbed one of the orange slices and popped it into his mouth. Alice gasped in horror as one of her favorite treats was taken away.

"MY PRECIOUS!" She threw her hands up and grabbed hold of Mello's face, squeezing his cheeks together to get the fruit out. It was almost like a reflex for her to save her oranges. Mello's eyes expanded as he grabbed hold of her arms to try and pull her off. "Give it back you thief!" She growled deeply. L watched with delight as the two fought in front of him. Alice had a good grip on Mello's face which made it difficult for him to pull her off without physically trying to hurt her. Since Mello didn't try to harm her while she was clearly strangling him, L concluded that Matt was indeed correct. Even though his successor was rash and brutish, Alice had once again transformed him like she did with Near. She had taught him patients. It was an amazing feat that she had accomplished in merely month.

"Are you two in a relationship?" L wondered out loud, setting down his fork onto his empty plate. Mello spit out the orange as Alice gasped with disgust as the orange slice hit the table.

"WHAT?" Mello choked, looking over to L who was in turn staring down Mello with those same wide curious eyes.

"Was my question unclear?"

"Nope, we don't think of each other in that way," Alice answered for Mello. Mello was still speechless, unable to comprehend L's question.

"You two act very comfortable around each other." L continued, believing Alice's statement, since Mello had pretty much proved it. But he still couldn't help wondering in the back of his mind if that was true.

"Yes, well that's because I don't believe in personal space, so he was going to have to get comfortable with me at some point," Alice explained, picking up a fruit off her plate and examining it carefully. She then stuffed it in her mouth and chewed slowly. She wanted the sweet taste in her mouth to last.

"No kidding, I can't count how many times you've barged into my room." Matt said, turning off his game in the process. There was no point in playing it since everybody there was just going to distract him.

"Your room is right next to mine. I sometimes forgot which room was mine." Alice tried to explain herself after swallowing her fruit.

"You walked in on me just two days ago…" Matt sighed with a smile. Even though Alice was a handful, Matt couldn't help but feel relaxed around her, even when she entered his room without his permission.

"Yeah, well I was just bored then," She grinned, picking up another piece of fruit. L found all of it even more intriguing. In just one day, he had already discovered many things about Alice. It was no wonder she fit in so well, even after having lived there for only a month.

"Do you find yourself getting bored often?" L continued the questions.

"Never! I love this place. I've already been here a month and I still haven't seen every room!" Alice lit up.

"That's because you're not allowed in every room." Mello grunted, now finally coming back from the shock. It took him a while, but he knew he had to recover fast to make a good impression. He was already regretting losing his composure by spitting out the orange.

"Please, that's not going to stop me."

L watched as she went for another fruit. There were plenty more questions he needed to ask her, but he wasn't going to ask them in front of everybody else. He would just have to wait until they could talk again tonight.

"By the way L, I've heard before that you used to live here right?" Alice brought up, now getting ready to ask the questions. She didn't mind answering questions, but there was so much about L she just needed to know. It was technically a second nature for her to butt into other people's business.

"That's right," L answered, paying close attention to what he said. He was surrounded by intelligent children who deduce just as analytically as he does, so he was going to have to be careful how he answered.

"So when did you leave the Wammy house?"

"I've always left the orphanage whenever I was needed,"

"Wait, so even as a kid you did detective work?"

"Yes." L answered, not at all surprised to see her reaction go from blank to amazed.

"That must have been awful!"

It was L's turned to be surprised.

"Awful?"

"Yeah, kids shouldn't have to work. You probably had no time for fun!" Alice sighed, giving L a pitied look. Out off the looks L had gotten over the years, such as 'the famous awkward look', or a look of pure amazement in relation to his talents, not once has he ever been pitied. It was a new experience for him all together.

"I find my line of work to be _fun_," L tried to argue.

"I'm sure you do now, but as a kid, what did you do with your free time?"

L had to think about this for while. It wasn't often he had free time, so the answer was difficult to tell. After a few more seconds in thought, L finally found an answer suitable enough to give.

"I eat cake,"

"That's not free time, that's just what you eat!"

"I beg to differ, I eat sweets when I am not working, and therefore I eat sweets when I have free time."

"That still doesn't answer my question!"

The other three boys watched as both L and Alice argued. They were amazed by how comfortable Alice was with L, and vice versa. At least, what they considered L's comfort level to be.

"You asked what I did with my free time, and I gave you my answer. I still do not see why you are frustrated with me."

Alice pinched her nose and shook her head.

"Never mind, let's just drop the subject."

"You don't look like you want to stop our conversation."

"Yeah, well if we continue the way it's going then you think ill of me."

"I would have no reason to think poorly of you, but if we must end our conversation here, I will not object."

Alice sighed and looked back down at her fruit. L was a hard egg to crack. Even though she compared L to Near before, she saw how different they actually were. Near was a lot easier to get close to, though getting him to talk was far more difficult. L on the other hand, did not have a problem speaking; however, the information he decided to give away was limited. And so, Alice had only one option left. She was going to have to get aggressive. Just like she was with Mello, Alice was going to be around L continuously until she got the answers she needed. Friendship always came easy for Alice, but she did enjoy a challenge every once in a while.

* * *

Thank you for reading!

The reviewers who are awesome and deserve a shout out!

**little firework: **Yes! I'm glad I can add awesome to your day. If you ever need a bit of super to add to that awesome, don't hesitate to ask. I'm here to give the readers what they want. (I didn't mean for that to sound dirty...sorry)

**Foam Weber: **Thank you! I'm sorry, but I couldn't push him down the slide (At least not yet). Alice still needs to develop a better relationship with him first I think. Then they can do all sorts of crazy shit!

**InvaderZamG.a.r,: **It was Mello that blushed, and thank you! You are right about the _not perfect_ part. I honestly believe the only person who could pull off L perfectly is the guy who made up the character in the first place, Tsugumi Ohba. Also, L was never made out to be a romantic interest in the first place, so when putting him in a romantic Fan-Fiction, the writer would have to change L in order to go on with the story. So in the beginning, I never expected to do him perfectly. Thank you so much for telling me that I am close. He was the one character I was the most worried about, but I'm glad I'm at least doing him some justice. (Holy shit that was a long response...I need to pace myself better with these...) Your awesome *smiles*!

**Evalyd Yamazaki: **Oh my god, so do I! Is it possible to get jealous of your own made up characters? Cause I am...

**Adorkable93: ***Fist pump* Glad I can make you laugh.

_Everyone, THANK YOU!_**  
**


	7. Interrogated once again

Hello my favorite readers!

Welcome to chapter 7 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_

**I have a very important message so please read the following:**

First of all, I feel really stupid for not doing this sooner. This wonderful reviewer had brought to my attention that I had not put down the ages of anybody other than Alice in my story. I'm am so sorry people! I completely blanked! I was supposed to put their ages in the first chapter, but I forgot. So here is everyone age's. _L_ is 26 years old, _Matt_ is 18 years old, _Mello_ is 17 years old, and _Near_ is 16 years old.

If you are wondering about the actual _Death Note_ story line...I'm going to have to apologize again. Light never found the book and will not be appearing in this story (Sorry fans of Light). As much as I love the _Death Note_ series (Which I don't own by the way "disclaimer"), I really don't want to have to follow that story line that leads to practically everyone's death. Don't worry though folks, because I have a wonderful story line planned for this fan-fiction, so please keep on reading.

Again, thank you wonderful reviewer! without reviewers like you, I don't think my story would be half as good.

Now please enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Interrogated once again**

Alice took down the towel that sat on top of her head. Her hair was still damp from the shower, but she knew that it would dry naturally. It was getting late and after spending the whole day of playing outside with the children, she was feeling sore. All the children had already gotten their dinner and were now all tucked away in their own rooms, probably studying for their lessons tomorrow. They're break was ending, so Alice was going to have to occupy her time without the children. At least until they finished their lessons.

Watari had offered her to take the lessons, but she knew there was no way she could compete with them. She considered her high school degree good enough for her. Anything more would ultimately explode her brain. Also, having been around the kids for so long, she found herself learning new things every day. So for her, there was no need to take lessons when she was already learning from the children.

As Alice slipped on her pajamas, she heard a knock at her door. She walked over to the door and opened it all the way to get a clear view of whoever was wanting to speak with her. To her surprise, L was standing on the other side in his usual attire of jeans and white long sleeved shirt. Alice was starting to wonder if that's all L owned. Sense hes come home that's all Alice has ever seen him in.

Alice was not the only one judging clothing. L was observing Alice's outfit of choice carefully. He knew right away they were her pajamas, but just like what she used to swim in earlier, she wore cotton shorts and matching tank top. He concluded that she was not afraid to show off her body.

"L?" Alice spoke, snapping L back to his initial objective.

"Sorry to disturb you Miss Alice, but I would like to continue our conversation from last night."

"Oh sure, no problem," Alice said, tucking a damp piece of hair behind her ear. "By the way, you don't have to use Miss before my name. I've been trying to get Watari to stop, but I don't think he physically can…"

"Alright, Alice it is. Please come with me." L ordered. He wanted to get on with the questioning as soon as possible.

L walked away from her door and started to head toward the same room they last spoke in. Alice quickly ran back into her room and grabbed her blanket off her bed. She then followed right after him down the hall. By the time she caught up to him, he was already in the room getting himself seated onto the couch. A tea pot and two tea cups were sitting on the coffee table, one full of warm green tea and the other one empty. The one full of tea was placed in front of the chair Alice sat down in last time they spoke.

L pulled the empty cup in front of him and poured himself some tea. A bowl of sugar cubes was right next to the pot, and it didn't take long for L to grab them and start putting them in his tea. Alice grew slightly worried after the 15th cube of sugar was added. Mello always surprised her on how many chocolate bars he could go through in one day, but L ate a lot more sweets. It was almost to unbelievable to even witness how much he could put away in his stomach and not gain weight.

"Please, have a seat." L politely offered.

Instead of Alice taking her spot on the chair left of the couch, Alice plopped herself down on the other side of the couch. Sense L had arrived at the orphanage, Alice wanted every moment she could get to know him better. She had used the same claustrophobic method with all the other children, so L was just going to have to get used to her being right next him.

L noticed her change of seat, but didn't think too much about it. Out of all the observations he has made from watching her, she was most well known for not believing in personal space. As innocent and refreshing as that was, L still had to remind himself the importance of keeping his past and present as low key as possible; especially from the daughter of a well known political family.

"So what are you going to ask me today?" Alice wondered, pulling her cup of tea closer to her nose to smell the delightful fragrance. The blanket was draped over her lap, creating a cozy environment in which satisfied her to no end. Even though many wouldn't believe it, one of Alice's favorite things to do was to just sit and relax in a warm cozy room and maybe read or do a puzzle. She liked the simple things in life, even though she grew up in a not so simple life style.

"The last time we had this conversation, we talked about your relationship with your parents, along with the outcome of how that relationship ended up. I would like to move on to you specifically now."

"Well I can't guarantee I will be able to answer, but go ahead." Alice smirked, mocking L's own line from before. L completely ignored this and continued on.

"There was a reason Watari had brought you here,"

Alice paused and took a sip of her drink. She knew the conversation would move to that eventually, but in the back of her mind, she hoped it never would. It was a subject that tended to be hard to talk about, depending on the people she spoke with. She didn't know L completely, so she didn't know where the conversation was going to take her.

"You had mentioned to Watari that you could communicate with those that have passed on."

Alice sucked in her breathe and nodded her head. L watched carefully as different emotions ran through Alice's expressions. She looked uncomfortable at that moment, but L knew he needed to bring it up. Whether she was telling the truth or completely out of her mind was something he could only determine himself.

"I don't know how much Watari explained to you, but yes, I can talk to spirits. I'm psychic…" Alice continued, watching as L's face didn't change in emotion at all. Usually by that point, people would look at her like she was nuts, but L kept his face neutral. It was a nice change for Alice, but she could still tell that he didn't believe her completely. No true intelligent detective would, unless giving the evidence to prove it. She unfortunately did not have any proof for him, so all she could give him was her word.

"I would like you to explain how this ability came to be." L asked, taking a sip of his tea. He then cringed and started to add more sugar.

"You don't think I'm crazy?" Alice asked with surprise. Most people went straight to that conclusion, so she figured L would be like everybody else.

"Crazy has multiple meanings to it Alice. Your personality would be considered crazy by a large percentage of people, but whether you are mentally stable or not should be the real question here. I've experienced many different things in my life, so what's to say that seeing spirits is impossible? The brain is a very complex organ, so what it's capable of is still a large mystery. For now, I will listen to what you have to say and come to a conclusion when all the facts and theories are put together. Please continue."

Alice was a bit speechless. Even though L showed no signs on his face of how he felt about the matter, Alice could hear it in his voice. He was truly going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Shacking off his last words, Alice went right back into her explanation.

"Well I couldn't really tell you if it developed since I've been seeing the dead ever since I was a little girl. Because of this ability, my parents grew embarrassed of me. This is why not many people know they have a daughter, if you were wondering about that part."

L nodded his head to show that he was paying attention. He did question why she did not show up in his research database as often as he thought she would, but at that point he could see why. The family went downhill probably when she mentioned to them that she could see spirits. No distinctive political family would be respected if they had a daughter who talked to thin air.

"So how do you communicate with spirits?"

"Well, that's the thing; spirits will just come to me unannounced. It's not something I truly control."

"Do you see spirits often?"

Alice had to stall on the question. For her it fluctuated from time to time. There would be months where no spirits would interact with her and then suddenly there would be one every hour.

"I suppose it depends on the timing, because spirits come and go on their own schedule."

"Interesting…" L mumbled to himself, taking another sip of his sugar filled cup. Alice couldn't even see the tea in it anymore. It looked like liquid sugar, which gave Alice a shiver. She liked sweets, but there was only so much she could take.

After he had swallowed the sugar, he looked back to Alice.

"You said before that you were psychic, which doesn't just determine ones ability to see the dead. Psychic is a termed used for a much broader spectrum of abilities used by the mind. Are you saying that you have more than just the ability to see spirits?"

"Wow, you catch on fast," Alice praised, amazed by how well L was listening to her. Even she didn't realize she used that word to describe herself.

"Well of course, I would not be known as the greatest detective in the world if I couldn't point out a simple phrase such as that."

"Oh, I see you're modest too, you're just full of surprises aren't you?"

"Please just answer the question Alice. It would be beneficial to you if you cooperated with the one who is giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"I was joking around." Alice held up her hands in defense. L had no reaction to this. He was too deep into the conversation to care if she was joking around or not.

"You're right, I have other abilities," Alice sighed. "I can _sense things_ is the best way I can put it."

"Give me an example,"

"Okay, if you were to give me a strangers shirt, I could probably come up with memories or experiences that person went through." Alice tried to explain. It was complicated, but that was the only example she could think of.

"Do you control this ability or is it just as random as the spirits appearance?"

"I think I can control it, but there are times where it comes out of nowhere."

L looked back to his now empty cup of sugar tea. He had to take in everything that Alice explained carefully. He had spoken with _psychics_ before, but never thought to much of them. Usually they turned out to be people who had disorders like schizophrenia or were trying to earn some money by faking. Even though Alice tended to be very charismatic, she had no sighs of having any disabilities or a desire for wealth. She was also telling the truth as far as L could determine. There was no fluctuation in her voice and her eyes were very much focused on him, and not looking away like most would do if they lied.

"Alright Alice, I believe the next step should be the experiment," He declared, placing his empty cup onto the coffee table.

"Like the one Watari had giving me the first day?" Alice wondered, thinking back to her first interrogation with Watari. It was actually given to her before she had a chance to come to the Wammy house. In the experiment, he gave her a picture of a man she had never seen before. With that picture, she had to write down everything that came to mind about him. In the end, Watari was impressed with what she could make of the picture.

"Yes, just like your last test, only this time, I will be providing the photo."

"Okay," Alice agreed, willing to prove herself to L. All she had to do was pray she could get something off the photo. It was going to be her only way to make L believe her.

L took a folder from behind him and placed it onto the coffee table next to the tea pot. Holding the folder open as if it carried some disease, L pulled out a large photo with two fingers and then held it up to Alice. Alice slowly took the photo from him and turned it over in her hands to get a good look at it. While Alice looked at the photo, L grabbed hold of a small note pad and slid it across the coffee table with a pencil.

"Who is this man?" Alice asked, looking down at a photo of a young man with spiky black hair and piercings all over his lips and ears. He looked like an average delinquent who still had scars on his face from old acne.

"Do you need a name?" L wondered, watching Alice closely to observe her technique. Alice went pale for a second as she held her breath. She didn't even think to try and focus out a name. Last time she had this test, Watari was kind enough to give the name and age of the person who was in the photo. Right then, Alice got worried.

"Well, I c-c-could try and come up with a name…" She stuttered, trying to focus more carefully.

"Alice, I don't have specific expectations for what your abilities can produce, so if you do need additional information to help boost this _ability_, please do not hesitate to ask." L explained, hoping to calm Alice down. He could see that she was panicking a little, and that was not what he wanted her to do.

"Oh, thank you," She sighed with relief. Names were always useful to her. Without a name, usually nothing came to her.

"That man in the picture is Louis Starks," L announced. Alice nodded her head and went back to looking at the picture carefully, happy to know that a name was provided.

L went silent as he took notice of her picking up the small note pad off the coffee table without looking away from the photo. She was very focused on the picture, not even trying to blink as she concentrated. After a few minutes went by, she finally found herself writing down on the small note pad. L observed quietly as she scribbled one or two things down every few minutes. She had a consistency to her with the writing. She would look at the photo for a few seconds, and then scribble something down. At one point she even ran her hand down the laminated paper. After 10 minutes of Alice scribbling down notes and L watching her do so, she finally declared herself to be done.

"That's all I can get from it,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," She declared, feeling a lot more confident now that she had finished. L took notice of this increase in confidence.

"Then please explain to me what you found." Alice nodded her head and handed over the photo to L who gladly took it back and set it on the coffee table face up, so they could both view it from where they were sitting. Alice then grabbed hold of the pad and flipped to the first page to start from the beginning.

"Alright, what I wrote down first was a number and letter," she began. "I wrote 2B…"

"What does that mean?" L questioned. Alice had a small laugh escape her lips, but then went quickly back to a frown.

"I don't really know, sometimes, I just get these messages without explanations."

She looked over to L who had his thumb placed ever so slightly on to his lip. She knew that this meant he was thinking critically.

"Alight, did you write anything else?"

"Oh, yeah," Alice said, flipping to the second page of her note pad. She then grabbed hold of her throat and cringed a little with an even deeper frown. "While I was looking at his picture, my throat started to hurt and it kind of got harder to breath, so that's when I determined that he is a smoker,"

L's eyes grew a little more wider then they were before, but he stayed quiet. He wanted to hear more of what she had to say. Alice glanced over at him, but quickly went back to her note pad in her hand. "I also felt pain in my left arm," She continued while grabbing hold of her upper left arm. "Like needles poking me actually, so I think he is a drug addict."

Alice then flipped to another page and frowned.

"I drew a picture here," She said, holding her note pad in front of L. L took noticed to her drawing right away. It was very poorly drawn, which brought him to the conclusion that she had no artistic ability what so ever, but the drawing itself surprised him. It was a face of a bearded man with shaggy hair.

"Why would you draw this?"

"Because I don't think the picture you gave me is right," She answered. This intrigued L a lot more.

"Do you believe I gave you the wrong person?"

"No, I just think that picture of him is too young. This is what I think he looks like now." She replied, holding the picture up to him and pointing.

"Interesting, was there anything else?"

Alice nodded her head and flipped to the next page.

"I wrote down _fear_ and _snitch_…though I couldn't really tell you if he snitched on someone because he was afraid, or he black mailed someone using fear so they wouldn't snitch…"

L watched her intently as she struggled to piece the words together. She was starting to get frustrated with herself for not being able to give concrete answers.

"One last thing that I wrote down was the name _Joey_, and I got the feeling that he was somebody very significant." She finished, closing the note pad.

"Does this _Joey _person have a last name?"

"Sorry, I didn't get a last name," She sighed, sounding even more disappointed. She then set the note pad down next to the photo and looked over to L in hopes that she at least gave some right answers. L saw the hope in her eyes right away. He could see that she wanted him to believe her and not think she was crazy.

"That's alright Alice, I'm actually quite impressed already with what you came up with."

Alice's face lit up light like the stars in the night sky.

"Really! Did I get it right?"

"I only have one last question," L went on, making sure to keep eye contact with Alice. Alice nodded her head to give him the okay. "When you explained Louis's habits on the use of drugs, you didn't refer to him in past tense, which means that you believe he is still alive, is that correct?"

Alice stayed silent for a few seconds, concentrating on what she felt earlier when holding the picture. She wanted to make sure for herself that that's what she believed. After a few more seconds went by she finally made it to where she felt comfortable in answering.

"Yes, I believe he is still alive."

"Fascinating…so even if the individual is not dead, you can still have these senses…" L mumbled to himself, though he said it loud enough for Alice to hear.

Alice never thought of it in that way before, so she was even starting to impress herself with what she could so.

"Alright Alice, now I will tell you about this man." L announced, pulling the picture off the table and holding it in front of her. "As you know, this man's name is Louis Starks. He is from the United States of America, born and raised in New York City. The first number and Letter you brought up before was _2B _correct?"

"Yes,"

"Well his apartment was numbered 2B, though I can not clarify you came up with his apartment number since you didn't know what that meant either, so I unfortunately I cannot use that as evidence." L said, looking over to Alice as she frowned. She at least felt relieved to know that the letter and number was somewhat important.

"You also mentioned he smoked and did drugs, which is correct. He was a heavy smoker from the age of 17 and he started to shoot up heroin at the age of 20. From his experience as a drug user, he went into the business of dealing them as well. He ran the business in his apartment for about 5 years."

Alice's eyes were getting wider by the second. Everything was starting to come together and the story was getting more and more interesting by the minute.

"The money he earned from dealing was used for gambling. By the time he ran out of money, he had to go to a loan shark, whose name was Joey."

"Oh! That's the name I gave you! Does he have a last name?"

L stuck his thumb to his lips. He almost found himself smiling, but he made sure to control his emotions.

"The police were never able to get a last name,"

Alice's face lit up again.

"Louis's debt piled up and soon the loan shark had to use more extreme measures to get his money back. This is where the words _fear_ and _threat_ you wrote down come up. But again, you did not feel confident about those two words, so they are both not going to be used as evidence."

Alice's face lost the sparkle from before and went back to a frown.

"I believe the last thing you wrote down was that drawing of Louis with a beard."

Alice nodded her head and flipped to the page of her drawing on the note pad. L reached for his back pocket on his jeans and pulled out another photo, and gave it to Alice. Alice took the photo from him and stared down at it with surprise. Indeed it was the same man only he had a beard and shaggy hair, just like what Alice drew on the note pad.

"That's him!"

"You were right about the picture I gave you. The picture of him was when he was in his 20's before he went on to dealing drugs."

"So this means I was right!" Alice giggled, forgetting about the other two evidences that were tossed out the window. It was the best proof she believed she had ever given.

"Before you get too excited, I must explain to you how significant this all is. The case I have shared with you is very low profile. It was never even published back in America. I used this case only because there would have been no possible way for you to hear about it. I can't however guarantee you had not known about it since your family travels all around the world. So for now, this was just merely a test in which we will have to continue another time." He explained.

"So this means were going to have to do another test like this one?"

"That is correct. I cannot base a conclusion on such little evidence, so for this next week, we will have to meet here every night and do a test similar to the one you just went through."

Alice placed her hand over her forehead and sighed. She knew that it was going to have to take a lot more just to prove herself, but she was willing to do anything. Though at that moment she just felt exhausted and slightly disappointed about the fact that what she just went through wouldn't particularly count for much.

L had noticed this shift in emotions as well and started to feel a little bit of guilt for putting her through it.

"If it makes you feel any better, I was still impressed by your ability to know that the picture was wrong."

Alice cracked a smile and started to chuckle with her hand still on her forehead.

"Thanks L"

* * *

Thank you so much for reading!

Here are the reviewers who are awesome in every way!

**Foam Weber: **Thank you =D With the power she has over them, just wait and see what she will do *evil laugh***  
**

**little firework: **Thank you! I will update as soon a possible. **  
**

**Invaderzamgar: **Well L is amazing, so it would only seem fare that the chapters with him in it are awesome, but I just wanted to prove that everyone else was just as awesome. Don't worry, L will be in it a lot more from now on. Also, sorry to unburst my own bubble...that you burst...(I don't know how that would work) but it did rhyme._ Through_ and _you_ both rhyme with each other in the sentence _"It no longer rhymes all the way through, but don't let the title disappoint you." _So yeah...thank you for reviewing and telling me, because with out reviews like yours, I would never have gone back to check on these problems. It really does help to have critiques to know what to improve on and change. You rock! XD (Matt is a fun perv though *Smiles*)

**Evalyd Yamazaki: **YOU ARE AWESOME! (Hope that didn't come on to strong...) Thank you so much for asking such a great question!I had completely forgot! THANK YOU!


	8. A Smile can last Forever

Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 8 of_ An Ace up my Sleeve_

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Death Note, but I happily own Alice my OC!)  
_

* * *

**A Smile can last Forever **

Alice sat alone in the open room, picking up a piece of a puzzle and checking to see if it fit. Once again, it was not a match. The room itself was filled with many different games and toys, so it was obvious that it was the playroom. It was not surprising to see mostly Near's games and toys. He was usually the one who provided the toys for the room in the first place.

Alice was at the moment attempting one of Near's many puzzles, and was finding it more difficult after each and every piece seemed to not fit. She had watched Near work on puzzles before, and for him, every piece he picked up fit perfectly together with the next. He made it look so easy. Alice could not for the life of her, fit any piece together no matter how many she tried. She was getting more and more frustrated with the puzzle as she went on.

"Stupid thing," She mumbled to herself. She would have loved to play with all the children, but they were all at their lessons until dinner time. She basically had the whole day to herself.

Earlier that morning she had tried to find L, but she had gotten lost in the house and found the playroom instead. She was never good with directions or remembering where places were, so her getting lost was not something new. It was quite frequent actually that she would enter the wrong room, or walk in a direction in which brought her in a loop.

"I hate this puzzle!" She spat, angry with herself mostly for not being able to do it. She then took a handful of the puzzle pieces and threw them at the wall, causing all the pieces to clatter and hit the ground sporadically.

"I don't believe the puzzle deserved that." A low smooth voice echoed from the doorway. Alice turned to the voice with surprise and found L slouching with his hands in his pockets, staring down at the mess she had just made. She quickly found her footing and stood up to make herself look presentable. She didn't know how childish she looked about a minute ago, but she hoped that she could make up for it by standing up straight and acting like it never happened.

"Hey L, I was looking for you." She smiled while fixing her hair. It had stuck to the carpet floor and it was starting to rise by the statics pull.

"That's interesting, because it looked to me like you were just attacking a puzzle."

"I wasn't attacking it," Alice laughed a little with uneasiness. "I was just making it…snow…"She faded out, looking back at the pieces that were sprayed about next to the wall. L just accepted her ridiculous excuse. It was Alice after all, and he knew that if he pressed on any further, she would eventually come up with some more elaborate lie to get herself out of the fact that she was just being childish a few second ago. It was another amusing observation he had discovered about her.

"Well, the time for snow has long passed. Watari has requested us so I suggest just giving up on that and come with me." He continued on, sticking his hand out of his pocket and placing his thumb to his lips. Alice's enthusiasm perked up at the thought of Watari needing her. He was supposed to be helping the children with their lessons, so whatever the reason, it was going to involve the kids. That just got her more excited, knowing that she didn't have to wait.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" She grinned, grabbing hold of L's arm that was stuck in his pocket and pulling him out of the room. L stumbled along with Alice's grip, slightly surprised to see how in just a couple days she had gone from sitting far away from him to touching him without even thinking about it. He then realized that Alice was the one leading the way, which amused him even more since she had no idea where Watari was. He would have told her to stop right that second, but found it more enjoyable to see how long it would take for her to notice. It was merely an experiment, but one he needed to know the results to.

Alice kept her grip on his arm, her hand slightly pressed on his upper forearm. The shirt was just how she imagined it would feel, since most cotton clothing all felt the same, but it was what was under the shirt that she did not expect. She felt some muscle, and for somebody as long and trim as he was, it was the last thing she ever expected to feel. He couldn't have gotten out much since his skin was a pale as Near's, so the only other option Alice had come up with was that he must do some physical activity inside. The time he had already spent at the house, all he did was sit around, so even Alice was having a hard time believing in such a thought.

As she continued down the hall dragging L in thought, she couldn't help but start to feel confused. It was at that moment she realized that she had no idea where she was suppose to go. She stopped immediately, which caused L to bump into her back.

"Wait, where do we go?"

"Astounding, it took you nearly a minute to realize your mistake,"

Alice pulled her hand off his arm and glared over at him. She knew an insult when she heard one.

"Well you should have told me sooner!"

"I don't believe the outcome would have been nearly as entertaining as this." L teased, not getting intimated by Alice's efforts to scare him with her eyes. Alice just gave a loud huff and walked past L to get away from him. She was determined to try and win back her pride, and the only way she knew how to do that was to walk away like she knew where she was going.

"Wrong way Alice." L smiled, not turning to face her.

"DAMN IT!"

She then quickly walked past L again, and continued on the way she was going in the first place. L only continued to smiled at the girl's frustration. She was like a walking ticking time bomb. One minute she would be laughing and then next she would be screaming in your face. L knew that that was probably something he should look into and help control, but for the moment he was going to enjoy the new experiment.

* * *

Watari waited peacefully outside, going over a chart in his hand to make sure everything was going as planned. He was pleased to see that the children were getting excited. Every year they did the same test before their lessons started. What made the test even more exciting that year was both L and Alice were going to be a part of it.

Luckily the wait wasn't long for the two to arrive and soon Alice and L were walking through the black metal gate that housed the backyard of the Wammy House. They both had entered the place where the water slide used to be. Alice was surprised to not see the slide on the hill. It was a large slide, so she had no idea where they could have stored it.

What surprised her even more though was that in place of the slide stood a wall of hedges cleanly cut into a square shape. The hedges themselves were in perfect shape, having lush dark green leaves and towering at staggering heights of 8 feet. The wall had only one opening, which only meant one thing. A maze.

"What the hell…?" Alice murmured to herself.

"There you two are," Watari smiled. L didn't even look to the maze, since he had all but seen it before. Instead, he made his way over to Watari, leaving behind Alice as she gawked at the new backyard activity.

"Where would you like us to go?" He asked his friend, looking over to maze with more interest. He remembered the test fondly himself from when he was younger. Even though he didn't show it on his face, he was truly happy to be a part of it once again after so many years.

"Wait!" Alice blurted, interrupting Watari before he could speak. "What happened to the slide? How could you have possibly grown this maze so fast!" She wondered, making her way over to the two. She couldn't keep her eyes off the maze, so her gawking hadn't stopped since. The children who were scattered about waiting for the test to begin were looking over to Alice and giggling. They were entertained by Alice's outburst, but more importantly, they were excited to know that both L and Alice were going to be a part of the test. They were going to have a chance to prove themselves to L along with impress Alice with their wit and mentality.

"Alice, you and L are to report to the last segment of the maze to give the children their last test." Watari explained without giving Alice the answered to her last question. He figured time was limited and he wanted the children to have as much time as they could inside the maze.

"But the maze!" Alice pointed, her mouth slightly opened in confusion.

"Yes Alice, I believe we have clarified that it is indeed a maze, we should now move on to our assigned position as we were told too" L spoke up, hoping to get on with the test. Alice was too busy being in shock to realize what L had just said. She just couldn't wrap her head around the idea of something so large growing in merely a day.

"This just isn't right…" She mumbled.

* * *

Alice sat completely still, looking around her surroundings very carefully. She was still in awe over the whole ordeal, but at that point she was completely speechless. She was surrounded by the 8 foot tall hedge that formed a medium sized circle around the table both her and L sat at. The table was a little closer to the right side, touching a part of the hedge. What Alice noticed first off when she entered the small portion of the maze, was that it was the only opening that she could see. It was a hidden door on the other side covered by the hedge. It led to the outside of the maze where the children would go when they finished all the way through. Other than that, the circle was completely closed off.

"I don't understand how this works…this is a maze right?" Alice wondered, still looking around to try and find another opening.

"I believe we determined that before we came here," L responded, pulling a piece of cake in front of him. There was a tray of sweets scattered over the entire table for him to enjoy. Watari was kind enough to give them enough to last through the whole test, or at least enough for L to be satisfied.

"No, I mean how will the kids find us?"

L grabbed hold of a fork that lay next to his plate and then grabbed hold of a bowl with sugar cubes in them. He wanted to make sure there was going to be enough sugar cubes for his tea.

"There is a door located 20 degrees north from this table that connects to the ground. That door leads to the underground labyrinth," He explained, not looking away from his attempt to stack the sugar cubes onto his fork.

"What! You mean there is more of this maze underground? How the hell did this maze get here in one day?" She became even more confused. She knew the house was different than most, but the maze was going way over the line of different. She couldn't even find a word to describe how ridiculous it all was.

"Instead of worrying over matters in which don't concern you, why don't you just enjoy a piece of cake. You should feel privileged that I am allowing you to have a piece." L retaliated, taking another sugar cube and stacking it on top the now five stacked high tower. He was focusing too much of his attention to the sugar cubes to notice Alice's glare afterwords.

"Okay, just answer me this. Why are we here?" She asked, still not taking her glare off him.

"That's a philosophical question Alice in which couldn't possibly be answered without proper spiritual belief or scientific understanding of human society."

"L, that's not what I meant!"

"Oh, then please elaborate."

"I mean, why did Watari send us here to this very spot at the end of the maze?" She sighed, now unable to hold the glare any longer. Being frustrated with L was not getting her anywhere.

"Watari had already explained our objective before, though I suppose you weren't listening since you are asking such a question"

"Well excuse me for not being able to comprehend an 8 foot bush that grows in one day,"

L stacked the 11th cube, continuing to make his very unstable tower in which he had a perfect hold on. Even though Alice didn't want to admit it, she was starting to see why the children looked up to him. He was condescending, but in way which made you want to prove your worth to him.

"Watari wants us to give the children their final question."

"Question?"

"When the children entered the maze, they were entering not just a maze in which you wonder around in hopes to find the end. This was specifically designed for the children to build up their intellect and deductive skills."

"So then we give them the last question to their test?"

"Bingo!" L said a little bit louder than usual. His face carried no other emotion except for his usual stare into the unknown. Alice was not fazed but the sudden change in tone, but it did send her through a loop of confusion.

At that point he was almost done with his stacking as he placed the 15th cube of sugar on his already very wobbly tower. Forgetting about his last random outburst, Alice was surprised that he was able to hold his fork so still without causing the sugar cubes to fall.

"I'm impressed L," Alice smirked.

"Of course you are," L replied, ending his sugar tower. He believed 15 would be more than enough. With his free hand, he grabbed hold of the tea cup full of oolong tea and slowly started to unstack the sugar tower from his fork and drop it into his drink.

"Geez L, would you like to have some tea with that sugar?" She chuckled as she watched him place the 10th cube of sugar in his tea.

"There is tea already in the cup," He answered, not taking in Alice's sarcasm at all. Alice sighed and slumped her head onto the table. She couldn't help but wonder if L was as smart as everyone said he was.

"So what's the question we have to ask the children?" She asked, lifting her head up to meet his eyes. He was watching her closely, matching his coal black ones to her golden hazel.

"We ask them anything we want,"

Alice was silent for a second, taking in L's words methodically.

"Anything we want huh..." She murmured to herself. L ignored her and took a sip of his sugar filled cup. A smile played at Alice's lips as she continued to think over the possibilities.

"So how long do you think it will take for the kids to reach us?"

"That solely depends on the children themselves. I suppose the ones who have a better chance on making it here first will be the ones who have good deductive reasoning and intelligence,"

Alice nodded her head to show that she understood. The thought before of how the maze came to be was a distant memory in her mind. She became too busy being excited over the fact that she was a part of the game. It was a lot better than sitting by herself in a room doing nothing.

L used the fork that he stacked the sugar cubes on and started to pick off a large chunk of his cake. Alice watched as he stuck the large piece of cake in his mouth and started to chew. While he was chewing away, he noticed her stare immediately. He observed that her mouth was pressed together tightly and her fingers were fidgeting a little with anxiety. He knew these symptoms came out to be either inpatients or conflict with one's own inner thoughts. Either way, she was bound to speak up any moment.

"How are you not fat?" She blurted out, just as L had predicted. L swallowed his piece of cake and waited a few seconds to answer the question.

"I found that when I use my brain, I burn off more calories," He then replied, taking another bite of his cake.

"That doesn't explain how you have muscle,"

L stopped the fork that held the piece of cake before it reached his mouth. The conversation had turned more interesting.

"How did you determine my muscle vs. fat ratio to be above average?"

Alice's cheeks lit up with a tint of pink which did not get unnoticed by L at all.

"Well…I….," but before she could finish, a loud crash erupted from the ground over by the door L had pointed out earlier. The dirt had parted, and a large wooden door was in its place on the ground. A cloud of dust hovered over it like a dark evil was about to emerge.. Both L and Alice watched as the wooden door swung up and then hit the ground causing the dust to fly in every direction. Seconds later the evil Alice believed was behind it emerged. Mello ran out from underground and fell to his knees in exhaustion. He looked like he had just ran a 10 mile race at full speed without stopping to take a break.

He looked around quickly at his surroundings, taking in deep breaths to get as much oxygen as he could as if he hadn't breathed the stuff for hours. A smile spread across his face when he noticed Near was not there.

"I made it!"

Alice scooted away from the table in her chair and started to clap.

"Nice entrance, I like when somebody enters dramatically." She praised. Mello scoffed and lifted himself to his feet, wiping off the dirt on his shirt as well. His smile was gone when he realized the test was not over until he got past those two. He was more than ready though since he wanted more than anything to beat Near out of the maze first.

"I suppose you wish to hear your last question?" L spoke, looking over to Mello. Mello wiped off his pants next, and then walked over to the middle of the circle a few feet away from the table. He kept on his serious expression to show that he was indeed ready.

"Well I want to finish this piece of cake first, so please wait for a moment," L declared, taking a bite of his cake, only he looked like he was taking more time in chewing it. Mello choked a bit on his own breath as if he just tasted something bad in his mouth. His face started to turn different shades of red and he looked like he was going to explode at any moment. As much as he looked up to L, at that point he just wanted to scream in his face. But in the end, he didn't want to ruin his reputation he had built up in front of him, so he held back as much as he could.

Alice could see his face turning red. In her mind she praised Mello for holding back his anger. L noticed this behavior as well and stared down at his cake in thought.

"I am impressed Mello that you got here so quickly," L then praised, not taking his eyes off his cake. Whether he was trying to calm down his successor or truly praise him for his achievement, Mello's face turned back to its naturally pale peach tint anyway. He never expected praise from L at all. "Though I should tell you that this is not a race, so there was no need to run here," L added, causing the praise Mello had received before to be forgotten.

Alice suppressed another laugh. She did feel bad for Mello, but at the same time she found the situation hilarious. L had turned out to be a lot more laid back then she initially thought.

"So what's the maze like anyway?" Alice asked, watching Mello's face turn to stone. She figured he was trying to be as patient as he could, but Mello was anything but. She was surprised he was lasting that long. Alice believed she could only help him by distracting him from his own inpatients.

"It's a maze you idiot, it's just a bunch of different pathways that lead in all directions." He answered while clenching his teeth. His face was still hard but he kept his temper down long enough to answer.

"Okay, you know that's not true, no normal mazes have underground pathways to them." She frowned. Alice wasn't going to be thought of as a fool. She knew that it was much more then he let on. Mello just sneered at her rebuttal. He really wasn't in the mood to have an argument with somebody who didn't even know the direction north.

"Can't we just move on?" He growled, his fist clenched tight and teeth pressed together as if he was feeling pain. In reality, it was probably the most painful treatment Mello could get; the act of waiting.

L just took another bite of his cake, ignoring Mello's demand. In the end, L wanted Mello to learn to wait. It was his successor's only true downfall other than his temper.

"So this is the end…" A voice echoed from behind Mello. All of us turned sharply to watch as Near emerged from the underground tunnel. Mello's face went pale white. He knew it wouldn't have taken long for Near to catch up to him, but he hoped he would have had more time than that.

"You made it Near!" Alice cheered, clapping just like she had for Mello.

"Damn it!" Mello cursed, turning quickly around to get away from Near's gaze. L only took a second to look over at Near. His first thought was how white Near had kept his cloths, even though he had to trudge underground for a good half of the maze. A quality not as important as the fact that he got there in such a short amount of time, but still one that L couldn't stop himself from thinking of.

"Alright, I'm ready to ask now," L stated, putting down his fork onto his empty plate.

"WHAT?" Mello yelled, now understanding what L had planned all along. Even though Mello wanted to prove himself on his own, L still believed both of them together made a better successor.

Near just moved his way over next to Mello and started to twirl his hair. He didn't really know what the situation was, but it wasn't hard to see that L had made Mello wait. Near could see the steam coming out of Mello's ears.

"Now I'm only going to ask this once so pay attention." L began, giving his full attention to the two standing before him. Mello clenched his fists, ready to be the first one to answer. He figured if he wasn't going to be the one out of the maze first, at least he could answer the question before Near and win that way.

"There is a room with one light bulb inside of it. You cannot see if it is on or off. Outside the room there are 3 switches in the off positions. You may turn the switches any way you want to. After you have switched them in any way you want, you must enter the room and not come back out. Explain how you would determine which switch controls the light inside the room." L spoke, pulling up a sugar cube to his mouth and plopping it inside.

"What kind of question is that?" Alice scoffed. She gave L a puzzled look, but turned to both Mello and Near to see what they would say. She noticed both of them in deep thought, actually trying to solve the problem. In her mind, she would just take a hammer to the switches and see which one let out sparks, but if she were to say that out loud, she probably would have been scolded by L. Imaginative thinking was only a waste of time for L, and practically everyone that lived in the house.

"Okay, I got it." Mello spoke first, scaring Alice out of her own thoughts.

"Yes, I believe I have the answer as well." Near added in, getting a small glare from Mello.

"I would turn two of the switches on and wait one minute," Mello started.

"I would then turn one of those switches off and enter the room." Near went.

"If the light is off but the bulb is warm to the touch, then it was the switch that was turned off before I entered," Mello continued, staying in sync with Near perfectly.

"If the light is on, then it was the switch that was turned on," Near added.

"And if the light is off and cold to the touch, it was the switch that was never messed with," Mello finished, a smirk on his face. He was glad he was the one who got the last word in.

L paused for a moment, thinking over their answer. Alice's mouth was wide open, unsure of what she just heard. She had no idea they were both so cunning and brilliant, though she knew she shouldn't have been surprised since it was the Wammy house after all.

"Correct, you pass," L congratulated.

Mello was quick to turn to Near and laugh in his face. Even though it was technically a tie, Mello had not lost to Near. Near didn't even give Mello a second thought. He was just pleased with himself that he was able to impress L.

"Now wait a minute!" Alice blurted out, not ready to see that as the end. "You two still have to answer my question!"

"What question?" Mello growled. L was curious too to see what Alice was implying.

"Well if L gets to ask a question, then I get to as well." Alice argued.

"That sounds fair," Near stated, pleased to see Alice participating.

"Fine, ask your stupid question." Mello grumbled, giving his glare to Near instead of Alice. He could tell that Near was sucking up once again. It didn't take much to please Alice, so Near easily found a way into her heart, which Mello absolutely hated.

"Alright, listen carefully because I'm only going to only ask this once," Alice started, copying L from before to sound professional. L smiled at this while Mello just rolled his eyes.

"What is the longest word in the English language?"

Both Mello and Near gave Alice a blank stare.

"Are you serious? That's it?" Mello scoffed.

"Well, I suppose that depends on what would constitute as a word in the English language, since the protein titin has 189,819 letters in its scientific name." Near pondered, thinking it over in his head.

"Okay, that's just weird." Alice chuckled, amused by the albino's fun fact. Mello caught this chuckled and quickly went to work for the answer. After a second went by, the answer came to him with no trouble.

"The answer is _pneumono-ultra-microscopoc-silico-volcanoconiosis__. _Since you were surprised to hear the last word Near brought up, that must of meant you didn't know what it was, so the longest word that is defined in the major dictionary that you must of been thinking of was that,"

Alice stared at them both with amusement. A smile crept onto her face in silence. Both the boys noticed her smile and grew worried.

"You both are wrong," An even larger grin playing at her lips. L was about to testify against her, since both boys had logically answered the question correctly, but he stopped himself, wanting to see what she would say out of curiosity.

"What do you mean I'm wrong? That was the longest word in the English language!" Mello rebelled.

"Nope," Alice giggled, more amused by Mello's anger. "Its '_smiles_'," She giggled again.

"Smiles is only six letters long, there are numerous other words much larger than that," Near said, not sure why Alice was still giggling.

"_Smiles_ is the longest word because it's a mile between the two S's! HA HA HA," She laughed uncontrollably. She even slapped the table a little to make herself sound louder.

Mello deadpanned, too struck to even feel angry about how stupid the answer was. Near cracked a smile, getting the joke, but more amused by Alice's fit of laughter. Her famous snort came out once in a while, making her crinkle her nose in the process.

"Clever," L was impressed as well, applauding Alice's question.

"Thank you," She finally calmed down, a small chuckle still leaving her lips in the end.

"So they both failed?" L then asked, getting Alice's clarification. Alice looked over to L and nodded her head.

"What? That wasn't even a legitimate question!" Mello yelled, not happy about being failed. He hated getting second, but failure was not an option. He would rather be second than have to fail.

"Rules are rules Mello, so good luck next time," L spoke, reaching over to the side of the table and lifting up a lid of some sort, relieving a red button.

"Wait no!" Mello panicked. Near got paler too, even though his skin was already as pale as it could be. L ignored Mello's cry and pressed the button without hesitation. The ground underneath both Near and Mello opened up and sent them both down a black hole. Mello freaked out on the way down while Near merely held his breath, afraid he might waist energy in yelling. Alice freaked out as well, bringing both her feet up onto her chair and gripping onto the table for dear life.

"HOLYSHITHOLE!"

The ground then closed itself back up slowly, and sealed itself nicely with the sound of a metal click. Alice shook a little, still not letting her legs reach the ground in case it broke open again.

"What was th…" But before she could finish her sentence, the ground began to shake violently.

"EARTHQUAKE!" She screamed, diving under the table. L sat completely still, letting the vibrations move him around without any problems.

"Not quite. The maze is simply reconfiguring itself so both Near and Mello will have a different path," L answered the frightened girl.

"What? Ouch!" Alice gasped, hitting her head underneath the table as she pulled herself back up again. The ground then stopped shaking, making everything completely silent. The birds went back to chirping and the wind subtly made its presence known by making the umbrella on top of the table flap. Alice looked around the circle to find that nothing had changed.

"When one fails the test, they must start over again from the beginning. But they would ultimately know how to get back to the same placed they failed before, so to make it more challenging, the maze will change." L explained more, bringing his attention back to his sugary sweets.

"WHAT KIND OF A MAZE CAN MOVE?" Alice stood up, more frustrated with the fact that the maze had become even more outrageous.

* * *

**THANK YOU FOR READING!**

My shout-outs to the reviewers as always!

**little firework: **Sorry about the wait! I will update hopefully a lot sooner next time!**  
**

**Evalyd Yamazaki: **Only Watari and L know about her ability. the rest of the house do not know. **  
**

**femaleNearimpostor: **Wooo! I could always use some extra force. Thanks! I'm glad my quality is improving. I do try to train myself better in writing, so I'm glad to see that my practice is paying off. **  
**

**Doko ni mo doko karatomo naku: **Yay! It's getting better!**  
**

**InvaderZamG.a.r: **Well, like _Evalyd Yamazaki_ said, it wouldn't be Death Note without some supernatural qualities. **  
**

**Piano-girl: **I'm soooo glad you like her! Thank you for reviewing XD

Reviewers make me happy...*smiles* (HAHAHAHA the longest word...)

_FUN FACT:_

_pneumono-ultra-microscopoc-silico-volcanoconiosis _is a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs. I also had to hyphenate the word because Fan-Fiction wouldn't let me put it in the story unless I did.


	9. And the Winner is

Hey-o! Welcome everyone to chapter 9 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Guess what? _I don't own Death Note!_ Weird, right?

Anyway, enjoy the chapter guys, and hey, tell someone they look nice today.

Chances are, they will probably respond with "you too"

Then you will feel good about making somebody else happy, and feel good about the fact that you look good too.

Awesome right?

_Okay, enjoy the chapter. _

* * *

**And the Winner is...  
**

"This is taking forever!"

"Well, you've sent so many of the children back, I'm surprised they haven't given up yet."

Alice sighed and poked at her empty plate. It had already been four hours since the test had begun, and only half of the children were out of the maze. Mainly it was Alice who would fail them, since she would always ask questions that technically never had concrete answers. She had already sent Mello back three times, along with Near who got sent back twice.

Occasionally Alice would look to the open door on the ground and sweat at the idea of Mello emerging. The last time he was sent down the hole, he had gotten Alice into a head lock to try and strangle her. Mello at that point had lost all his dignity, and found himself not caring what L saw. Luckily, she had got a moment to break away and push the button to send him down before he could finish the job.

"I suppose he failed again then?" L had questioned after Alice had managed to get away from him.

But for the moment, all was quiet in the maze and all Alice could do was be patient and wait for the rest to come. Even though it was her fault in the first place that she had to wait, she didn't think too much about it. The kids needed a challenge anyway, so she figured she was doing the kids some good.

Looking over to L, Alice noticed the laptop that appeared after the Mello attack. L had not looked away from it since then. He was fully focused on the screen, the glare reflecting of his pale skin, and his wide eyes.

"So, what are you up too?" Alice asked, sitting up higher in her chair to try and get a peek. L gave her a quick glance, but then went straight back to his work. He could tell straight away that she was starting to get bored.

"Working," He answered with hesitation.

"Working?" Alice squeaked loudly.

"Yes, well, it doesn't look like this test will end any time soon, so I might as well work," He explained, pressing a key on his keyboard.

"What kind of work is it?" She droned on, her surprise dying down in exchange for curiosity. L was the greatest detective in the world, so his work had to reflect that.

"Work that doesn't involve you,"

"Hey, I can help! Don't be so hobbitty!" She huffed, her cheeks puffing out a little in annoyance.

"Hobbitty?" L tested the word in question. He was always amazed what Alice could come up with on a whim.

"Yeah, you're like a troll under a bridge, and won't let anybody pass unless they answer your silly question," Alice went on, crossing her arms in the process.

"Aren't you the one asking the subjective questions?" L rebelled, referring to the questions she asked the children before she failed them all. He also did not like the idea that he resembled a troll.

"That has nothing to do with what's going on right now!" She retaliated. He was being defensive, but Alice could see his true intentions. He was really trying to distract her from his work, but Alice wasn't going to have it.

"Come on! Show me what you're doing. It wouldn't kill you!" She nagged on.

"Anything's possible…" L mumbled under his breath.

"You want to repeat that?" Alice arched her eyebrow up. L gave her a nervous glance, recognizing her threatening tone. He sighed, and waved her over, giving in to her demands. Once Alice set her mind on something, she would always keep with it until the end, and L wasn't in the mood to try and fight that kind of determination.

Alice immediately sat up with a victorious smile across her face. She quickly made her way over to him, and stood behind his back over his shoulder to get a good look at the screen. L took notice to how close she got to him. He could even feel her breath graze his neck as she looked down at the screen in front of him. Her breath smelled like chocolate cake.

Alice noticed a picture on L's computer screen of an Asian looking man with darker skin. Because of the darker skin, Alice figured he was born in the Southeast. Taking a closer look, he had a thin mustache and a choppy hair cut. His cheeks were sunk in which made him look like a skeleton, and his eyes were almost hollow looking.

"Who's that?" Alice breathed, taking in more of the mysterious man's face.

"His name is _Guntur Jawa Malik_. He was born in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, and he's a notorious drug dealer. "

"You deal with a lot of drug dealers don't you?"

"Not as much as you would think, but occasionally they come my way. Indonesia in particular has a very high intolerance of importing illegal drugs, so naturally they would seek out the best in order to capture him." L explained.

"So how is the case going so far?" Alice wondered, not looking away from the photo.

"I plan on finding him in the next 48 hours," L answered, pulling his thumb up to his lips. Alice blinked twice in shock. She could hear the confidence in his voice, and she couldn't help but feel even more impressed with the detective.

"So is the guy hiding or something?"

"He hasn't been seen in over a week, so I would assume so." L replied, his mind starting to concentrated more on the case. He was beginning to like the questions she would ask, since it made him think over all the information more thoroughly.

Alice just nodded her head and looked more closely into the Indonesians hallow black eyes. She took in every corner and angle the face had, unable to look away from his gaze. She couldn't think of anything else to ask, but there was another element that was keeping her from speaking. She was starting to feel that same sensation again like she always would when looking at photos or touching objects.

L noticed her silence and chose to be quiet as well. He observed Alice out of the corner of his eye, and saw that she was giving the photo her full attention. She would even take in deeper breaths so her eyes wouldn't falter from the screen. After a few more minutes of silence, Alice was first to speak.

"I can smell something fragrant, almost flower like,"

L gave her a sideways glance, now realizing all that concentration she was using on the photo was her _psychic_ powers. Not wanting to go into it right away, L decided to ignore it.

"Well, wild delphiniums do grow all over England this time of year."

"No, not that, I mean, I can smell a kind of flower coming from this picture," Alice pointed out.

L was not surprised to hear this, though since she announced it, he figured it would be a great opportunity to test her once again.

"Do you know what flower it is?"

"Even if the flower was a rose, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I don't know flowers that well." She admitted.

"Did you get anything else while looking at the photo?" L got deeper into the test Alice was unknowingly taking.

Alice burrowed her brows in thought. L even noticed her nose scrunch up a little as if she smelt something bad. Unconsciously, L checked his breath to see if it was him. He never cared before what other people have thought of him, but Alice seemed to be an exception. He pushed it off as just being courteous, though that was going to have to be debated later on.

"No, I can only smell that silly flower." She sighed. The smell was just so strong that she couldn't concentrate on anything else when she looked at the photo.

"Interesting," L murmured, a little disappointed in his alleged psychic.

"Sorry that I couldn't be of any help," she sighed once again. L heard the disappointment in her tone. Her emotions were always displayed outward, not making how she felt subtle at all. It was still unclear to L if she did this on purpose, but he was quick to notice that she didn't ever hold back.

"I wouldn't say that Alice, the scent of a flower could easily determine ones position in the world." He confided, silently hoping it would cheer her up.

Alice's disappointment soon turned into confusion.

"What?"

"There are millions of species of flower on the planet, and certain species grow only in certain environments. Indonesia is well known for its diverse display of animal and plant life, so the likely hood of the flower you smell could be located in only a remote portion of the region." He enlightened, thinking over the possibilities in his head.

Alice was amazed. She never realized a scent could be so important; especially a scent that would seem so common. After hearing L's answer, she wanted to know more, so she started to ask another question, but she was interrupted by another figured emerged through the underground cave.

The familiar color of dark red hair flopped up and down as Matt walked up onto solid ground out of the dark quiet cave. His goggles gleamed off the late afternoon sun and a cigarette was ever so slightly placed in-between his lips. His eyes traced over the scene in front of him, Alice leaning over L, their faces close together. They were both eying him as well, taking in his casual demeanor and dusty red hair.

"Am I interrupting something?" Matt cocked an eyebrow. Alice was quick to sit up straight, which gave L a chill from the newly cold breeze that Alice was protecting him from before.

"Where the hell have you been? It's been like four hours since this test has started!" Alice shouted, hoping to get away from his embarrassing remark. Matt just shrugged his shoulders at the question.

"I got bored halfway and decided to take a break."

"Take a break? Are you even aloud to do that?"

"There are no rules for this test except staying on task and keeping to the objective. Children are allowed to take as long as they want." L answered her, going back to his computer, already uninterested. Matt was his third consideration for successor, but what Matt lacked the most was motivation. L knew Matt could be a great detective, but Matt made it clear that work was only second on his list of priorities. If he could avoid it, he would.

Alice just crossed her arms and eyed Matt more closely. She especially gave the cigarette her attention.

"Aren't you too young to be smoking?"

"I'm 18,"

"Yeah, isn't that too young?"

"18 is the legal age for smoking," He replied, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"I don't think I'm okay with you smoking."

"Well I like it,"

"You should stop."

Matt just gave her a blank stare.

"Isn't there suppose to be a final question I need to answer?" He moved on, not wanting to get into an argument with Alice about his nicotine habit.

"I'll let you go first Alice since it's usually your question that stumps the children." L allowed, taking more interest in his case. Alice just snorted over at L and made her way slowly back to her seat across from him. Matt smiled at the girl's grouchy attitude.

"Fine then, just give me a second to think," She huffed. She then pressed her pointer figure to her forehead in thought. Matt waited patiently while L continued to type away at his computer. Only the sound of clicking could be heard.

"Okay, I got it!" She smiled. Next, she turned to Matt with a more serious face. "What is the moon worth?"

Matt chuckled at her question.

"The moon huh?" He pondered to himself with a smirk. Alice stayed quiet, not changing her expression in fear that it might give away the answer. Even though she knew facial expressions couldn't give away answers, she still couldn't help the childish act. They were all detectives after all, so every smile or frown she made would easily be evaluated.

"Easy, the moon is worth one dollar,"

Alice chocked on her own breath, not believing what she just heard. L stopped his typing and found himself listening more intently.

"Wait, why only a dollar?" Alice tried to sound unsurprised.

"Because it has four quarters." He finished with a victorious smile and a gleam from his goggles. Alice smiled along with him.

"That's right!"

"Impressive," L praised, giving his successor more attention.

"How did you know?" Alice wondered.

"Well, after hearing all the others complain about your questions, I figured out you were actually using riddles. So before I came here, I looked up all the popular riddles I could find and memorized them,"

Alice clapped her hands. "I agree with L on this one, very impressive," She added.

"Thank you," He bowed.

"Well L, I believe it's your turn," Alice stated, crossing her leg over her other.

"Matt has proved himself enough just getting passed your question, so congratulations, you pass" L announced while picking up a lollipop from a jar that sat in the middle of the table. He then held it out to Matt. "Your reward,"

Matt just gave it an awkward look and shook his head.

"No thanks, I'm good."

"Your loss," L murmured, and stuck the sucker into his own mouth. Alice smiled at the scene, but found herself getting up a second later.

"I can show you the way out now," She announced. Matt looked over to her and side-stepped out of the way so she could move out of her seat.

"How has Mello been doing?" Matt brought up, now interesting in his friend. When they both entered the maze in the beginning, Mello was first to run in and leave Matt behind. He knew Mello wanted to beat Near, so he wasn't surprised to be doing the maze by himself. But since he's made it to the end, he wondered if Mello had learned of Alice's little riddle trick.

"He's been sent back like three times," Alice giggled. Matt was silent for a second, taking in her answer. He then laughed out loud, his cigarette moving to his right hand.

"No way!" He cracked up while holding his stomach. "I bet he's pissed!"

"You have no idea," Alice cringed while gripping her neck with her left hand. "Well, shall I show you the door then?" Alice watched Matt compose himself. Matt let out a few more chuckles, and straightened himself out. He knew he was going to hear about it from Mello later on, so he figured he should laugh now and get it out of his system.

"Wait, if Mello hasn't made it out yet, then I want to wait here for him." He declared.

"Well I don't have a problem with that," Alice shrugged, sitting back in her chair quickly. She was happy to know Matt would be here next time Mello showed up, so then maybe he wouldn't attack again. Matt was always good at calming Mello down.

"You may do whatever you like," L added in his two cents. Matt grinned and looked around the table at all the sweets and extra rappers from all the candy that had been consumed. He figured L was most likely the culprit. There were also only two chairs, and both were being occupied by L and Alice.

"Oh, I can get you a chair!" Alice stood back up like a spring, noticing that another chair was needed. She then quickly made her way over to the hidden door.

"Wait, you don't have…" Matt tried to stop her, but she was already out of the maze before he could finish. L just tried to bite at his lollipop, not phased at all by the Blondes enthusiasm for getting another chair. Matt pinched his nose with a smile, slightly frustrated with the girl, but not at all surprised as well.

"Stupid maze!" A voice echoed from the other side of the circle. Matt quickly recognized the voice and turned around to see Mello come out of the underground cave. Mello staggered out of the hole, dirt all over his black leather pants and in his hair. Every step he took made some of the dirt fall off him and form a cloud around his feet. He was finally up and out of the cave, and found Matt standing next to the table with L typing away on a laptop that wasn't there before. He also noticed that Alice was absent from the scene.

"What the?"

"Hey Mello," Matt waved with the cigarette in his hand.

"You finally found the end Matt?" Mello smirked over at his friend. He remembered passing Matt a couple times in the maze, and each time he passed him he was either taking a nap, or playing one of his video games.

"I was in no rush," Matt shrugged.

"Where's that one girl," Mello frowned, making his way over to Matt. He looked around the circle and found no sign of her at all.

"She went to go grab something." Matt sighed, letting the smoke leave his lips in a straight line.

"Get what?"

Before Matt could answer Mello's question, Alice made her entrance through the hidden door with a white plastic chair in her hands. As soon as she made her way inside, she spotted Mello standing next to Matt and stopped.

"OH FRICK!" She freaked, holding the chair in front of her for protection. "You get any closer and I'll beat you with this chair!"

Mello crossed his arms and arched his eyebrow up at her.

"You think a chair could stop me?"

"No, but I bet I could at least leave a nice lump on that pretty little head of yours."

Matt snorted, while Mello simply glared over at Alice. L was amused by the defensive girl, but he kept it to himself and continued on with the case in front of him.

"Listen," Mello started with a grunt, not really in the mood now to fight with her. "I just want to get this stupid test over with!" He had spent four hours outside walking around a maze and he was fed up with it. At the beginning of the test he thought that he would be able to get through it in less than 30 minutes, but ever since Alice had been asking the questions, his plans had changed. He was tired and grouchy from all the effort he had put into it.

"You're not going to choke me again, are you?" Alice paced slowly, still holding the chair in front of her. She was starting to make her way back to the table, but as quietly as she could in case she made Mello more upset. Mello pinched his brows together with two fingers in aggravation. He was starting to get a head ache from the girl.

"No, I'm not going to choke you, now can you hurry up and just give me the question." He sighed. Alice heard his tired voice and took it as a good sign. She put the chair down next to the table and sighed with relief. She was glad to know that she was going to live to see the next day. She also subtly thanked Matt for being there and calming Mello down. Even though Matt didn't say or do anything, she knew Matt still made an impression on the teenager.

"Alright, let me think of one," Alice said, setting the new chair down at the table between her and L in the back. She didn't know if Matt was going to join them since Mello was there, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

When Alice had finished putting the chair away and found her seat, she crossed her legs and thought more deeply about the question. She wanted to give him a question she knew would be like the others, but still be able to let him understand it a little better. She was starting to feel sorry for Mello's constant failures, though she wasn't about to go easy on him. He needed to learn after all.

"Okay, I got one." She announced, breaking the silence. "What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?"

Mello stayed silent for a minute, thinking hard about the question. He repeated it over in his head many times to try and make sure he heard her right. At that point, he knew she was using riddles. Though that one was a little different though. The question seemed more generalized, but it was actually a lot more specific then the last two questions she gave him. It's what belonged to him, so there was only so many possessions he had, but since it was a common possession, that meant that what he possessed had to be public to the whole world. A smirk then traced his lips as the answer came to him.

"It's my name,"

Alice was speechless. Her rosy pink lips were partly opened and she stared straight at Mello without blinking. Mello frowned at the shocked girls face and started to get even more annoyed.

"Well, you going to tell me I'm right or not?" he grunted, ready to be done with the test. It took a few more seconds, but Alice did find her voice.

"Uh, yeah, that's right," She slowly let out. She then turned her head to L with the same blank face. "Did you want to ask him a question now L?"

L took a second to look to her and then over to Mello. He wasn't paying attention to their conversation earlier, but just by the look of her face, he assumed Mello had answered correctly.

"There will be no need, you pass Mello," L declared. He did start to reach for the lollipops to reward him, but Alice held her hand up for him to stop and shook her head no.

Mello let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He was just glad that he was done with the maze. It had been a long day and all he wanted to do was just relax.

"Congratulations Mello, you're finally free." Matt cheered. Mello looked over to Matt and groaned.

"Aren't you going answer your question?"

"I already did, I'm done." Matt shrugged.

"WHAT? _YOU_ BEAT ME?" Mello sprang back with some extra energy.

Matt and Alice had to cover their ears, he was so loud. Mello never thought that Matt would ever surpass him. It wasn't that he thought he was more brilliant then Matt, since that wasn't the case, but Mello was a hell of a lot more motivated to become a detective then Matt.

"I think strawberry is my favorite flavor," L spoke out randomly, rotating the lollipop in his mouth to take in all of its sugary goodness. Alice never lost her smile.

* * *

Thank you everyone for reading/ favoriting/ alerting!

To the reviewers:

**Foam Weber: **Wow, in a poem? That's talent! *claps*

**little firework: **Thank you! Shes actually really fun to think up situations for. **  
**

**Evalyd Yamazaki: **I love the Wammy house, and that's what I figured a bunch of geniuses would be living in. **  
**

**InvaderZamG.a.r: **Its a cute riddle, I couldn't resist. Yeah, that really long chemical word is insane. **  
**

**hairEbunny: **You love Tinker? Thank you! 8 siblings? you must never get any privacy. I have two siblings myself, but I do like the idea of a big family. Also, thank you so much! I'm happy to know that I'm doing L some justice. So many reviews at once, you are sooooooooooooo awesome! **xD  
**

**wenperson: **Thank you! The riddle makes me crack up too.


	10. Deep in the Jungle

Hello!

Welcome to chapter 10 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

I'm in the double digits now!

I think that calls for a celebration... *Dances badly*

...Okay, that was fun.

Enjoy the chapter peoples =D

_(Disclaimer: I own my OC's but not Death Note)_

* * *

**Deep into the Jungle**

The dining room table was crowded with children, each passing around and grabbing bits of food for their plates. Alice sat near the end in-between Lea and Liam as usual. Every time a plate of food went by, they would always pull something off for Alice and tell her the health benefits it had for her body. Even though she never knew what they were talking about, she truly felt cared for. She would however sometimes have to stop them before her plate became a mountain. Matt and Mello sat across from her, not giving her any of their attention. Mello had calmed down after the test, but he wasn't about to show any appreciation to her. He went through hell in that maze, and the only thing good that came out of it was the fact that he beat Near. Sure it was after Matt won, but a win is a win.

"Here you go Alice, broccoli has Vitamin C, folic acid, and potassium which can help absorb iron in your body and battle high blood pressure." Lea squeaked, putting a large spoon full of the green miniature trees on Alice's plate. Alice gave a small sigh but smiled over at the ten year old anyway.

"Thanks Lea, but I don't think I can eat another bite."

"You should at least have one more bite of broccoli." Liam argued from her other side. Alice sometime wondered why she sat between them. It was like having two health doctors in surround sound.

"Okay, okay, one last bite and then I'm done," She finished, giving in to their cute little smiles. She then picked up a piece of broccoli on her fork. Both Lea and Liam made identical grins to each other in triumph.

"DONE!" Tinker, the spiky brown haired inventor shouted while throwing both hands in the air.

"No fair!" Another young boy close to Tinkers age whined. They both had been partaking in an eating contest, and Tinker had won.

Tinker just shrugged off the look and got up from his seat. His friend followed quickly out the dining room so they could both go play some more before bed time.

"Done!" Both Lea and Liam copied Tinker with their hands in the air. They then giggled to each other, making fun of the little inventor. Alice was still stuck between them, so she got the grunt of the shout, causing her ears to ring.

"Man, you both have some lungs," She mumbled. Mello was quick to smirk at the girl's discomfort. He believed she deserved it completely.

"Miss Alice?" Watari chimed in from the entryway. All the children still left at the table fell silent to the old man's voice. All of them turned to Watari, and then to Alice to see what she would do.

"Yeah?" Alice replied with the broccoli in her mouth and the fork centimeters from her lips.

"You are needed up stairs." He replied.

"Why?" She swallowed, wondering what was upstairs for her. Watari didn't respond, but motioned for her to follow him. She got up from her chair without a fight and made her way over to him. He walked out and moved on to the stairs where he proceeded to go up. She was quick to follow so she wouldn't get left behind. She knew that if she didn't stay close, she would probably get lost.

When she was out of the dining room, the children lit up with conversation; most of them thinking that she was in some sort of trouble while others couldn't educate a guess.

* * *

Watari showed her down the hallway and up even more flights of stairs, leading to the next hallway of doors. The house was large, so Alice was never surprised to see a new door in which she had never entered before. She was shown that very door near the end of the hall, carved with a beautiful motif of vines and floral patterns. It was quite regal and majestic, with a splash of mahogany wood that framed around it. Based on its antique look, Alice figured it was one of the original doors to the old house.

Watari walked around her to get to the door. He smiled over to Alice and opened the door for her.

"Here you are Miss Alice." He finished, standing to the side to let her in. Since the scene felt so rustic, Alice couldn't help the small bow and curtsy that came next.

"Why thank you my good sir," She said with the thickest and most outrageous accent she could pull off.

Watari just gave her a blank stare, but ignored the girl's odd behavior as she made her way into the room.

When Alice made it inside, she held her breath in complete shock. There were flowers everywhere. So many colors and shapes, Alice couldn't focus. The flowers were scattered across the floor and on the windowsill. Some were placed on the two couches in the room and some were even pinned to the walls. It was such a large explosion of color, Alice almost missed the large computer off to the left. Around it was technology so advanced, Alice couldn't even make out what it was. A few screens were above the computer, and next to them were large metal boxes that reached the ceiling. The boxes had buttons and wires all over, and they hummed with electricity coursing through them. Alice could even hear some of the fans in the machines that cooled down the system.

She was completely overwhelmed with the site. She was so preoccupied with the flower explosion in front of her to notice L sitting down in a rotating computer chair that sat right in front of the monitor. She also didn't notice Watari shutting the door behind her and leaving her in that room alone with L.

"I see you've noticed the flowers," He spoke to get her attention. Alice looked over to L who was sitting in his usual manner, eating away at a marshmallow in his right hand. He held it with only two fingers, as if it would break in his hands at any moment.

"Are you trying to pick me up? Because I'm not really a flower kind of girl, I prefer maybe chocolates or those silly little trinkets that aren't really pretty but have a cute charm to them," Alice claimed, not moving from her spot at the door. She was afraid that if she moved anywhere in the room, she would crush the flowers.

L thought about what Alice had said. That was never on his mind when ordering all the flowers, but he could see where Alice was coming from.

"No Alice, that was not my intention, but I will keep that in mind." He responded, taking a bite of the marshmallow. Alice smiled at L's teasing. At least she believed he was joking. L was sometimes hard to read.

"So what is with all these flowers?"

"They are all from Indonesia, each of them originating from South Kalimantan were _Malik_ was last seen." L answered, finishing his marshmallow.

"You mean that drug dealer you're after?"

"Yes, you spoke earlier about smelling a certain flower when you looked at his photo, so these flowers are for you. If you can find that same smell from before, then maybe I could find out his location using that flower specifically." He finished, keeping an eye on Alice's facial expressions. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You think one of these could have that same smell?" She wondered while looking around the room.

"Well, the chance of one of these flowers being the right one is about 38%."

"38%?" Alice stuttered, not seeing how he got to that conclusion.

"This is only a fraction of what Indonesia has to offer when it comes to their floral environment." L explained. Alice was at loss for words.

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You're going to make me smell each and every one of these flowers to try and find the one I had previously smelt earlier, but the chances of finding it here is about 38%, so I could be doing this all for nothing, except satisfying your need for entertainment." Alice retorted, placing her hands on her hips.

"The test will not be a waste of time if you're are willing to prove your _talents_ are real," L calmly stated. Alice pursed her lips together in thought, recognizing a challenge in L's tone of voice. A 38% chance was low, but it wasn't low enough to scare away Alice. She was determined to find that flower.

"Okay, fine, I will do it," She declared.

"Good, now I suggest you start over there and make your way to me so you can keep a systematic pace. I should warn you after about 15 minutes of using your nose, your olfactory sensors will die out, so make sure to take a break once in a while, or else you won't be able to smell any of the flowers."

Alice just cracked her knuckles and moved her head back and forth as if she were stretching for a fight.

"Bring it on!" She declared to the flowers.

L turned his back to her and went back to his work on the case. He wasn't going to rely on Alice alone to give him the answer, since it was merely a test. He was still going to use his own skills as a detective to find the criminal on his own. It was going to take a while and it usually depended on his leads, but he was confident he would find him in no time.

Alice went straight to work, heading over to the far right wall where a jungle was starting to grow. In the furthest corner of the room was a pot large enough to fit a baby horse in. Alice couldn't believe her eyes when she saw that in the pot was the largest flower she had ever seen. It was about as tall as her and probably weighed a lot more. It was just one flower in the pot, sprouting up with a pedal she could use as blanket if she wanted. It was dark purple on the inside and pale green on the outside. The pedal circled around a light purple cone, a tall narrow portion where she believed the pollen would be, if the plant even produced any. She didn't know if it made pollen or steroids.

"Oh wow," She breathed, taking a step back from it in case it called out for her to feed it. She's seen the movies, and she was no _Little Shops of Horror_ Seymour.

L had not turned to her at all, letting her do her job while he did his. He wasn't interested and Alice. They were plants from a different country after all, so she should have expected it. Shrugging her shoulders, she got back closer to the large plant and stuck her nose close to take in its smell. A second later she was gagging and stumbling away from the flower.

"Holy hell that's foul!" She coughed, trying to get the smell out of her lungs. L paused his work finally, and took a look over at the dying girl.

"That would be the _Amorphophallus_ _titanium, _or better known as the 'corpse flower'. "

"It smells like rotting meat!"

"What were you expecting it to smell like?"

"Not like a dead animal!"

"Well there's no reason to be upset with the plant, that's just how it naturally protects itself from predator,"

"Well, I can tell you right now that the smell from the photo did not smell this bad." She coughed once more to make sure she could breath.

"Then you should rule out all the on that back wall,"

"Thanks," Alice sarcastically replied, taking in clean crisp oxygen. L waved it off and then went back to his work on the computer, letting Alice finish her job. Alice pulled back her hair that had covered her face, and glared over at the giant flower. She could have gone a whole lifetime without knowing about that plant, but unfortunately, living in the Wammy house was going to force her to do things she never thought she would do. She was just going to have to get used to it.

She took in some more clean air and moved on to the flowers that's were on the windowsill. She was glad to just get away from the spooky giant plant. Getting back to work, she noticed the window had a good view of the backyard and the maze just outside. The sun was setting and it was going to get dark soon, so Alice took the opportunity to look at the orange and pink clouds that floated over the horizon in front of the sun. They were bright and colorful, putting a smile on Alice's face. She liked simple moments like those and just seeing the pretty scene made the job seem a lot less tedious. At that point she felt more than ready to finish up going through all the flowers.

* * *

Alice was lying on her back next to L on the floor. Her arm was draped over her eyes and her other arm was just above her head.

"I can't smell anything, my nose has finally moved on to the spirit world and all that's left on my face is an empty shell."

"I warned you about using your nose for too long."

"There is no way my sense of smell is coming back, it's gone forever."

"It will only take a few more minutes for it to work again, just give it time."

"I will miss my sense of smell, it always was so good to me, I only wish I could have appreciated it more."

"You're not listening to me, are you?"

"Now all I have left is the memories of what was once my nose."

L sighed and looked down at the girl. She was just below him so he didn't have to move his body to much to see her. Her hair was spread out all around her and her stomach was slightly exposed since her blouse was pulled up a little. She was taking in deep breaths so her chest slowly moved up and down. L could see that she was calm. He figure out that she was actually only messing with him. Taking that into account, L picked up a marshmallow from the large bowl that sat on his desk, and held it over the girl.

"Have a marshmallow," He declared, letting go of the fluffy candy and watching it hit her face. Alice flinched her body to the side, shocked to feel the marshmallow. She was not ready for a surprise like that, so all she could do was cover her face with her hands. A couple seconds of silence went by and then she finally uncovered her face and smiled over at L. L could see her white teeth sparkle as she looked to him.

"You're an ass." She chuckled, her hair bouncing with her head as she laughed. L gave a small smile in return.

"Now my feelings are hurt."

Alice pulled her head back and started to laugh even more. Her laughter vibrated off the walls and echoed through the quiet room.

"Aw, I'm sorry, do you need a hug?" She cracked up, holding her stomach in the process. L thought about it for a second, wondering to himself if he should go along with it or not. Clearing his head, he determined the case was more important, and they both needed to get serious.

"You should probably continue on with your end of the job, the longer we take trying to find him, the easier it is for him to get away,"

Alice nodded her head and stood up from the ground, growing taller than L in his chair. She wiped off the invisible dirt from her butt and walked over to a bunch of white flowers on the couch.

"Your right, we should get back to work." She sighed, sounding slightly disappointed. She wanted to continue on with their playful banter since it was really the first time Alice had seen L let loose, but she knew work always came first for him, and she just had to accept that.

"Have you made any progress on your end?" She wondered, picking up the white flowers and putting them close to her nose. She was happy to find her nose working properly again and she could smell the sweet nectar emanating off the delicate flower. Unfortunately it was not a match.

"I've made progress, just not the kind I would have liked." L replied, generalizing his answer so she wouldn't have to know. The case was starting to go dry and he needed a new lead soon or it was going to take longer than he expected.

"Damn that looks vicious!" Alice yelled out randomly. L jumped a little at her voice, but turned around quickly to find her looking at one of the other native Indonesian flowers. It was another large flower, only this one was as big as young cat. It was bright red with white dots all over the pedals. In the middle was an opening that had small red spikes coming out. It was a very intimidating plant to those who didn't know what it was.

"I think it wants to eat me," Alice gasped, looking closely at its spikes.

"That is the_ Rafflesia. _It's actually pretty rare and one of Indonesia national flowers." L explained, watching as Alice stepped back from it and held out her hand to try and touch it. She tapped her finger on one of the pedals and scrunched her nose in thought. She just wanted to make sure the plant wouldn't bite her.

"Why do Indonesia flowers have to be so big?" She mumbled, straightening herself up, satisfied to know that the plant won't attack.

"Is there a problem Alice?" L asked, turning back to his own work. Alice only gave him a side glance, not really in the mood to reply to his sarcasm. She brushed him off and stepped closer to the man eating plant to try and get a good whiff. Taking in its soft rosy smell, Alice was quiet for a second. The smell was familiar and she took another sniff to make sure she wasn't mistaken.

"I think I found it!" She jumped, looking over to L to get his attention. L turned back to her and looked at the large plant in front of her.

"Are you sure?" He asked, turning to look into her eyes. She did hesitate for a second, but her confidence increased as she remembered the photo.

"Yes, I'm sure."

L immediately pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and started to type in some numbers. Alice watched as L put the phone to his ear, holding it in the same way he held everything else. The phone rang for a couple of seconds; Alice could hear it clearly since the room was so quiet. Then, a man answered, getting L's full attention.

"Yes, Mr. Amrein, I would like you send out some of your men to the lowland forest area located just outside of_ Banjarmasin_." He spoke calming, as if he already had the whole thing planned out. The man spoke back on the other line and L listened intently.

"Tell me your status in the next hour or so and will go from there, "He replied. The voice spoke back and then the line went dead. L closed his phone and looked back to Alice who was waiting patiently to hear what's going on.

"The flower that you just picked out only grows in isolated forest banks, and even though Indonesia has a lot of forest cover, the flower will only grow is specific areas, and there just so happens to be a sanctuary for these flowers just outside the capital." He began, watching as Alice moved her way over to him. She wanted to make sure she heard him clearly. When she was close enough, she sat down on the ground just below him and listened to the rest of his explanation.

"I will be surprised if he is found there though. The lowland forests tend to be very dense, so living conditions wouldn't be favorable," L continued.

"What if he is found? Does this mean you'll believe me?" Alice wondered, looking up to the detective.

L looked closely into Alice's hopeful eyes. He didn't know how to answer her. Since the outcome hadn't occurred yet, he didn't know what to believe.

"I will be impressed Alice, but I cannot say for sure how it will all turn out," He responded as truthfully as he could. He didn't want to disappoint her with the fact that he had little faith in her ability, though he wasn't completely in disbelief. He's encountered stranger things in his lifetime, so the possibility was still there.

Alice pulled back her hair with her hand and closed her eyes. The sun had past over the horizon and the stars and moon lit up the night sky outside. If the room was quiet enough, crickets could even be heard chirping away their love songs to whoever is listening. Alice yawned and rubbed her eyes to rid herself of the drowsiness. L noticed her tired physique.

"You should get some sleep Alice, it has gotten fairly late."

Alice waved her hand back and forth and shook her head.

"Were in this together man, I'm with you until then end." She declared. L stuck his thumb to his mouth and thought to himself for a second. He liked that she was so dedicated, but staying up all night wasn't going to change anything.

"You will be useless to me if you are tired," L declared straight forward. He meant it in a good way, but Alice wasn't so sure how to take it.

"Well good to know that I'm being used," She huffed. She was certain L didn't mean any harm, but he still had to learn how to choose his words more carefully.

The grandfather clock in the room started to ring. It chimed 12 times, making it known to whoever heard it that it was midnight. Alice leaned back and listened to the bell, closing her eyes in the process and quietly taking it in. She determined that the clock had a lovely ring. It was soft and whimsical.

"Okay, I'm going to bed," She caved in, standing up from her spot on the floor. L watched her get up and tower over him in his chair. She looked down into his eyes and smiled. "Goodnight oh great detective." She soothed.

L's eyes gave a small spark at the sound of the teasing girl's voice. It was subtle, but he found her antics assuming.

"Goodnight Alice," He replied, a hidden smile on his lips.

* * *

What did you think?

Thank you my favorite reviewers of all time:

**Foam Weber: ***giggles* that was my favorite line!** XD  
**

**K: **Thank you! it makes me so happy to know that shes loved!**  
**

**InvaderZamG.a.r: **Your friend sounds awesome. He has to be a riddle master to know so many riddles. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the Riddler from batman.** :D  
**

**hairEbunny: **I'm so glad that you like it! You are defiantly not overrating, I'm glad to hear you think it has good development. Thank you so much for reading my story!**  
**

I'm so happy that you all chose to read my story! _Thank you everyone_ **xD**


	11. Alice in Wonderland Again

Hello people who read!

Welcome to chapter 11 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

I'm really sorry about the wait guys, but I do have a reason.

When I was writing this chapter, I didn't know if I was going to make it into two parts.

In then end, I decided not to, and as a result, it's a really_ long_ chapter.

so...

enjoy? ***Smiles***

_(Disclaimer: I just don't own Death Note, so yeah...)_

* * *

**Alice in Wonderland Again**

The hum of the computer echoed through the quiet dark room. Alice's deep breathing was the next sound that came. She was fast asleep on the couch that once housed some of the flowers. A blanket was draped over her, and one of the couch pillows laid flat under her rosy cheek. Her mouth was slightly open, taking in air so her nose could take a break from all the work it went through before.

It was late at night; the sun had long fallen over the horizon. L was still in front of his computer working on the case. He had still not gotten word of whether or not the drug dealer had been found yet, but the lead Alice gave him was only an educated guess. He had little faith in the matter and presumed on the case in his own way.

As L continued working quietly, so he wouldn't disturb Alice in her sleep, he poured himself some coffee and started to add spoon full's of sugar. When he was at his fifth scoop of sugar, his cell phone vibrated. He had turned it on silent before when Alice hit the couch. He figured she needed rest after the long day they both had, and L was more than used to staying up late and working. Coffee also helped with his lack of sleep.

L pulled out his phone and looked at the ID. It was the mission down in Indonesia. He quickly flipped the phone open with his other hand, and placed it to his ear.

"Have you found him?" He immediately answered. He had no time for a simple hello and wanted only the facts. A man on the other end that led the search replied back with a strong Australian accent.

"The jungle was clear, and really hard to maneuver in. No sign of anybody living there mate. Next time you decide to send us out in the wilderness, please warn us in advance. That was brutal." He playfully laughed. L wasn't as happy as his Australian friend. He turned his body to look over at Alice's sleeping form and frowned.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work. Next time I will give you a warning."

The Australian chuckled again, but composed himself for his next question.

"So what's your next move Coil?"

Of course L wasn't going to reveal himself as the greatest detective in the world, but rather use his allies as the 3rd greatest detective. He found it unnecessary to use his true name on such a small case; nothing his third alter ego couldn't handle.

"I have two other areas I would like you to survey. I'll send you the coordinates right away" L replied, typing away on his computer in the process. With one last click, the directions were sent and the Australian replied with recognition.

"Alright, were on it,"

The phone then went dead, and L was yet again wrapped in silence. Alice would once in a while mumble in her sleep, but nothing L could decipher, no matter how hard he tried to listen. Soon it was just the hum of the computer that filled the room with quiet noise.

* * *

***Alice's Dream***

Alice sat around a round blue wooden table with tea pots and tea cups scattered all around. The table was located outside and the sun was bright over the tall trees that made up the forest behind her. Some of the tea pots on the table were steaming from their spouts, which meant the tea was just freshly made. Alice was on the far left of the table, looking down at the tea cup full of tea in front of her. Steam was coming from the tea, which also meant the cup was just poured for her. Alice then looked down at her hands and at her outfit.

"I don't think I own a dress like this…"She mumbled, taking a look at the bright baby blue dress that had white frills on the collar and sleeves. The rest of the dress was covered with a white laced apron that frilled at the end. On her feet were white high heeled boots that were laced up to the knee. A ribbon that matched her dress was tied in her hair in the form of a headband. All together, she thought she look incredibly ridiculous.

"You clearly own the dress since you are wearing it," A familiar voice broke her train of thought. Alice quickly looked up from her herself and saw L dressed in a colorful orange, purple, and green suit, along with a matching top hat that was placed over his messy black hair. He was sitting in his usual crouching manner, and he was adding sugar cubes to his tea. No matter how many he put in, the cup never got full, so he wasn't hesitant on how many he used.

"Oh wow L, what are you wearing?" Alice chuckled, unable to look away as L put in his 30th cube of sugar. She was starting to feel better about her own outfit.

"My name is not L, and I am wearing clothes." He responded without any enthusiasm. His face was a blank as a canvas.

"Then who are you?" Alice smirked, decided to just play along with the game. _L_ stopped adding sugar, and took a sip of his tea. He cringed and then started to add more sugar cubes, not satisfied with the amount of sugar he added before.

"I am the _Mad Hatter_, though I am far from mad. In fact, I am extremely intelligent."

Alice gave him a weird look, but let it go quickly. Again, she knew to just play along with it.

"Okay, so should I call you Mad Hatter?"

"No, L is fine, I like that name."

Alice sighed and placed her hand over her forehead. Even in a dream, L was difficult.

"Aren't you going to ask for my name?" Another voice spoke up; only this one was lighter and more innocent. Alice moved her attention to the voice and noticed Near sitting right across from her next to L in a large padded red chair. He had one leg hanging off while the other one was up to his chin. He was wearing a suit as well, though it was harder for Alice to see the details since Near was constructing a wall of cards in front of him, leaving the top of his head to be the only portion of his body exposed. Though, Instead of a top hat like L's on his head, two long fluffy white rabbit ears sprouted out of his just as white messy hair. It was the cutest thing Alice had ever seen in her life.

Alice's cheeks went pink with delight as one of the ears twitched. It took every ounce of her being to hold back from hugging him to death.

"Near, you look so cute!" She blurted out, her golden eyes lit up with joy.

"My name is not Near, it is _March Hare_." He replied, stacking two more cards onto his tower. He was very gentle with the delicate structure, so the wall stood strong.

"I suppose you would want me to call you Near though." Alice playfully smiled.

"No, I would like you to call me March." He replied directly. Alice frowned and leaned back in her chair, starting to not enjoy the little game they were both playing. Instead of just getting more frustrated though, she decided that she should only worry about herself.

"So where am I?" She asked, hoping to learn more about what was going on around her.

"I figured the tea party setting and our ridiculous outfits would give that away." L replied, stirring his tea with a tiny silver spoon.

"Okay, thank you Mr. sarcastic, I get it. This is the setting for Alice in Wonderland. "She grumbled. "Aren't you guys supposed to have a mouse friend?" She moved on anyway. She wasn't really in the mood to keep that argument going.

"Do you have any idea how many bacteria and germs mice carry on their bodies. It would be highly unsanitary to have one running around on the table where we eat," L cringed. He wasn't about to let a rat ruin his tea.

"Right, of course," She sighed, letting go of how the story played out. She'd rather just go with the dream instead of trying to force it to become something she knew wouldn't. Even in her own dreams she didn't have any control.

"Shouldn't you be on your way?" Near chimed in. He was completely surrounded by his wall of cards. His chair was enclosed in just a matter of seconds, which caused Alice to rub her eyes to see if she was seeing it right.

"What do you mean?" She responded, trying to look in-between the holes to see him.

"The Queen requested your presence, you should probably get moving so you don't make her angry." L answered for Near. Alice gave L a skeptical look.

"Queen?"

"Yes, the _Queen of Hearts_."

"Okay, well I don't know where she is,"

"That cat in the forest can help you." Near replied from behind his wall. Alice looked back behind her at the dark foggy forest. She wasn't too keen on entering dark scary places and that forest screamed dark and scary.

"In there?" She pointed, worry lines forming on her forehead as the fog grew thicker.

When Alice didn't get a response, she turned around to see why they were quiet. She jumped in shock to find them both gone, along with the giant tower Near had built. It was if they were never there.

"Now I am alone…" She uttered, taking in deeper breaths to clam herself down. She did have to remind herself that it was just a dream and that sooner or later she would meet up with both L and Near again. Shaking off their creepy exit, she looked back to the forest again and frowned. There was no use in staying at the table, so she got up slowly and started to make her way to the woods.

When she hit the forest edge she stopped and took a look around to see if there was anybody dangerous. She didn't want to take any chances in case there was somebody who wanted to kill her.

When she saw that the coast was clear, she started to make her way down the narrow dirt pathway. It was full of twists and turns, and she started to get confused on where it was actually taking her. The further she made her way in the forest, the darker it got. Fog was almost making it impossible to see and she was never a good navigator. When she reached a fork in the road, that's when she stopped and groaned.

"Wasn't there supposed to be a cat that helps me?" She pouted to herself. In that instant, a rustle in the tree above her broke through the silence.

"That would be me," A voice echoed. Alice looked up and found Matt sitting on one of the branches. He was wearing his usual attire, only on his head were red striped kitty ears, and hanging right under him was a long fluffy tail to match. Both the ears and tail matched his red stripped long sleeve shirt that was under his furry vest that he always wore to keep himself warm. His goggles were also over his eyes, so Alice couldn't see his expression very well.

"Matt?" Alice squinted in the dark to try and see him better.

"I'm actually the _Cheshire Cat_, but you can call me Matt," He smiled, his teeth bright as the moons light. Alice then couldn't help but wonder how it had gotten dark so quickly. The sun was high up in the sky when she was having tea with L and Near, so it was almost impossible for it to be that late.

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods?" He asked, leaning back onto the trunk of the tree and folding his arms back behind his head to use as a pillow. His tail swayed back and forth and both his ears moved up and down playfully. He looked like he was enjoying himself.

Alice shook away her thoughts about the time and gave her full attention to Matt.

"L said that you could take me to the Queen." She replied, taking in Matt's casual demeanor.

"The Queen? Why would you want to go see her? She's a bitch," Matt snickered.

"She said she wanted to see me, and I would rather go to her then for her to come after me."

Matt thought about that for a second. He then nodded his head and jumped down out of the tree, landing on two feet easily.

"You're probably right." He agreed, straightening himself up by stretching his back.

Suddenly more rustling could be heard over by the bushes to the far right. Alice gasped and jumped behind Matt to protect herself. Matt raised an eyebrow, but stood his ground for Alice's sake. Seconds later, Mello emerged from the thick bushes, cursing his way through to try and break free. Alice realized there was no threat, and stepped away from Matt with a sigh of relief.

"Damn bush," Mello growled, kicking at the plant in the process. Alice took a closer look at Mello and noticed he was wearing a dark blue suit without the jacket. Instead, he wore the white long sleeved shirt and blue vest that matched his pants. In his vest front pocket was a golden chain that hung out. It was most likely connected to a watch, seeing as how Mello sported two blonde fluffy bunny ears that matched his own hair color. Alice determined that he must have been _White Rabbit_, the bunny that always seemed to be late to wherever he was going.

She threw her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing at the sight of Mello pulling himself out of the bush.

"What the hell is so funny?" He sneered, glaring over at Alice. Alice however saw no threat. The ears on his head twitched and she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

Mello looked like he was about to have a vain explode on his head. Alice stopped her chuckling to give Mello a break.

"You know, it's funny, I thought you were going to be the Queen." She said with a serious smile.

"DO I LOOK LIKE A GIRL TO YOU?" He shouted, his ears sprouting up to add effect. Matt snorted, covering his mouth to try and hold in his laughter as well. Alice held her tongue, having the answer in her mind, but knowing that it would just anger him more if she were to say it out loud.

"Damn it, I don't have time for you, I'm late" He gritted his teeth and looked away from them both. He pulled out his watch and looked at the time with a frown.

"Late for what?" Alice wondered, somewhat already knowing the answer. If she remembered the fairy tale right, White Rabbit was heading to her own court trial.

"That's none of your business," he replied, closing his pocket watch and placing it back into his pocket.

"Well, technically that's not true." Matt added, crossing his arms and swaying his tail back and forth. Mello glared over at the cat, but looked away again not interested in the fight.

"Well I need to go see this Queen person, so can we get going?" Alice spoke up while looking over to Matt.

"Don't worry there missy, will get there when we get there." Matt shrugged his shoulders. He was in no rush to see the Queen. Alice on the other hand knew the story well, and did not want to end up having a full deck of cards come after her.

"You can come with me, I'm going to her right now, but you have to keep up, otherwise I'll leave you behind." Mello offered, turning to Alice and crossing his arms. Alice looked to Mello with surprise.

"Why do I get the feeling that's a bad idea…" She mumbled, her brows pressing together in thought.

"Fine, don't follow me then! Do what you want!" He growled and turned around to head off down the dirt path.

"Wait! No! I'm sorry, I coming!" Alice yelled, running to catch up to the angry rabbit.

"Hey! What about me?" Matt followed along to catch up. He didn't want to be left behind.

As the three then made they their way down the foggy dark dirt path, Alice couldn't help grabbing hold of the back of Mello's vest for comfort. Even though Mello was mostly known for trying to kill her, she didn't think about it so much after seeing him with soft bunny ears. The forest scared her more than the rabbit in front of her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mello stopped and turned his head. Alice blinked up at him in question.

"You said to keep up with you, so I'm making sure to do that." She argued. In reality she was just slightly on edge.

"You're wrinkling my good suit, let go." He rebelled. Alice puffed out her cheeks in anger.

"Come on you two, there is no need for fighting, let's just get this over with so we can move on with our lives," Matt sighed, walking past the two with his hands in his pockets. The other two gave one last glare to each other and then proceeded on with their travels. Alice still had a good grip on Mello, and wasn't about to let go anytime soon. Mello ignored it for the time being and continued on following his friend. At least, for the moment he considered him a friend. Later on he was going to have to rethink his friendship.

"So what did you mean when you said the Queen was a bitch?" Alice spoke up, making sure to keep her pace with Mello's so she didn't run into him. Matt turned his head to look back to Alice, but then looked back in front of him to make sure he knew where he was going.

"Well, what can I say, she is what she is," He shrugged, not giving a clear cut answer. Alice rolled her eyes, but continued on anyway. She supposed she just had to wait until she got there to find out.

* * *

***Back in reality***

L typed in his last sentence and then clicked enter to send. He leaned back in his chair and laid his head on the head rest. The case was starting to take longer than he had expected, so the night just seemed like it was going on forever.

Alice rolled in her sleep on the couch, making her head face the back of it. She mumbled a couple words, but they were unclear as to what they were. The blanket that was previously on her shoulder had moved down to her feet. She moved around a lot in her sleep, so the blanket was twisted around her ankles as a result. Her hand was also gripping tightly to the fabric on her pillow, as if she were holding on for dear life.

L glanced back at the girl, but then looked up at the ceiling. A sigh momentarily escaped his lips.

* * *

***Alice's Dream***

"Are you sure we're going the right way, we've been walking for like 15 minutes already." Alice whined, her grip still tight on Mello, but her face showed no fear. Instead, she was just tired.

"Of course we know where were going, now stop complaining." Mello barked, grabbing hold of his watch once more to see the time. His ears twitch in anticipation as the second hand slowly made its way around.

"We should be getting close to the castle." Matt chimed in a few steps ahead.

"Good, cause I really don't like this forest." Alice uttered. The forest hadn't gotten any better and the fog looked like it was just getting thicker. Alice was glad to have a hold on Mello, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to see them.

"Did you hear that?" A whisper echoed from a distance. Alice turned her head to the noise, but the echo came from all directions, making it hard to pin point the direction from once it came.

"She doesn't like being in the dark!" Another whisper echoed to reply to its friend. Both Matt and Mello stopped to try and locate the voices as well, but did not know where they were coming from. Alice stopped right behind Mello and tightened her grip on his vest. The voices were eerie, but what really set Alice off was the somewhat untrue false accusation.

"I never said I was afraid of the dark!" She yelled with a vein popping on her forehead.

"You had me fooled." Mello uttered under his breath. Alice gave him one last glare, but was reminded of the voices once again when they both giggled and faded away into the distance. The group was silent for a second, waiting to see if the voices would return, but the forest was just as quiet and eerie as before.

"That was weird," Matt droned, pulling out a cigarette in the process and lighting it up. He then took a quick drag and exhaled with pleasure.

"Really?" Alice questioned, giving Matt a blank stare.

"What?" He shrugged, his ears perking up in wonder. Mello just pinched his nose and sighed, starting to feel the stress build up inside him once again.

"We're late, let's go." He ordered, moving forward and forcing Alice along with him. Alice just couldn't find it in her to let go of Mello, especially after hearing those two creepy voices.

As they continued down the path, bricks started to appear in the dirt, which meant they were getting close. The bricks were sprouting up in different colors, from dark reds to bright yellows. As the path continued, these bricks became more frequent and the fog started to lift. Light was even making its way through the thick canopy tree tops. Alice's grip slowly loosened as they all started to find their way closer to leaving the woods. She was more relieved to see day light than anything else.

"Almost there," Matt sang whimsically. For somebody who didn't want to see the Queen, he sure looked like he was having fun. Alice pinned the new found happiness on the death stick that stuck out of his mouth. She did not approve, but then again, she just had to remind herself that it was just a dream.

Mello only grunted in response, not as excited as his friend. He pulled out his watch one last time and checked to see if they were making good time. He nodded to himself in satisfaction to see that they were on track.

In the distance, Alice saw a shinny light of hope. It was the end of the forest, and a sense of relief came crashing through her like a tornado. Her whole body seemed to exhale all at once, letting out all the tension it had built up over time. She was even relaxed enough to let go of Mello's vest. Mello noticed his new found freedom and looked back to Alice in wonder. He cringed when he saw her face. Her eyes were lit up and her smile sparkled against the rays of light. She was looking straight ahead at the end of the forest with utter happiness.

"You really didn't like it in here, did you?" He mumbled under his breath. Alice didn't notice Mello's comment, and started to run for the exit with excitement.

"FREEDOM!" She cheered.

"HEY WAIT!" Both Matt and Mello said at the same time. She didn't stop, which forced both boys to run after her. By the time they both made it out of the forest, Alice was standing outside, frozen in her spot at the beginning of a maze made out of eight foot tall square hedges. The two boys stopped right next to her and gazed up at the maze as well.

"You got to be kidding me!" She blurted out, scaring both boys that were next to her. "We have to go through that?" She pointed, anxiety written all over her face.

"Not quite," A familiar voice spoke up. Alice quickly looked back at the entrance to the maze and saw L slouching in all his glory. His top hat sat slightly crooked on his head to make him look more casual.

"L!" She smiled, slightly relieved to see him. On the other hand, she couldn't help but think there had to be some catch.

"L?" Both boys beside her questioned. They then looked to each other when Alice didn't respond.

"I thought he was the Mad Hatter?" Matt whispered to Mello behind Alice. Mello shrugged to his friend, thinking the same exact thing.

"You know a way around this?" Alice asked L with twinkle in her eye. L ponder to himself for a second, putting his thumb to his lips in thought. He was mostly observing Alice's happy expression with interest.

"Yes," He then answered. Alice lit up even more. L smiled to himself at her reaction. "You just need to answer one question, and then you will be free to continue on without having to try and go through the entire maze," He finished, his smile never faltering. Alice's face dropped.

"Well it was nice meeting you Alice." Matt said, extending his hand to her for a shake. Alice looked to him in surprise.

"You're leaving me!" She gasped.

"I'm sure…_L_… here can lead you the rest of the way,"

"But what about the question?"

Matt took another puff of his cigarette and then dropped it on the ground to stomp it out.

"Not my problem." He declared. "See yeah," He then waved and started to walk back to the forest.

"Matt!" Alice cried out, but Matt already made his way back into the forest in which Alice was never going to go in again. "Damn it," She grumbled, turning back around to face L. She then noticed Mello was missing from right next to her.

"Okay this whole disappearing act is starting to get old" She sighed. "Where did he go?" She asked L, who hadn't moved from his spot.

"You mean the boy with the bunny ears and watch?" He asked, tilting his head in wonder.

"Yeah,"

"He left already to the castle."

"WHAT!"

"Is there a problem?"

"I turn my head for two seconds and he runs away, that bastered!" She growled, her brows pressed together tightly.

"Well I can see that you're having a moment right now, I'll just give you some time to cool down," L started to turn around.

"Wait no!" Alice cried out, reaching her hand out as if to grab him. He was too far away of course, but the scene called for a little dramatic effect. L stopped and turned to face her. "I can do it, just ask away. I don't need any help from them anyway." She determined, placing her hands on her hips. L nodded his head and walked back to his position in front of the maze.

"Alright, I'm only going to ask this once, so listen carefully," He started. Alice started to sweat.

"What is my name?"

Alice's face twisted in confusion. She opened her mouth, ready to answer with confidence, until she thought about it some more. She had been calling him L the whole time, but he did refer to himself as the Mad Hatter in the beginning. Either way, she wasn't sure what name he was referring too.

"What name do you want me to say?" She asked. L smiled even more, amused by her own question.

"If I told you the answer, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the question?"

Alice pursed her lips together. She had to think more in depth to try and get around L. She had little confidence, but she wasn't willing to give up just yet. Though, the longer she thought about it, the more she knew she was wasting time, so in the end she decided to go with her gut.

"You are L, dressed up as the Mad Hatter."

L was silent for a moment, letting the mid-afternoon breeze blow by.

"Is that your final answer?" He asked, letting Alice sweat in anticipation. Alice smiled and stuck her two pointer fingers to her cheeks to make herself look more innocent.

"If you tell me I'm wrong, then you will upset this cute face of mine. You wouldn't want to do that would you?" She squeaked, pursing out her bottom lip to pout. The smile was still in her eyes, but she made sure to water them a little so they would reflect off the sun.

L waited again, his thumb shaking a little with excitement. He quickly stuck both hands in his pockets and smiled to Alice with delight.

"I will accept your answer and your ending argument. You know, you are quite the charmer Alice. You should be grateful to have such an ability." He then praised. Alice folded out her hands and covered both cheeks quickly.

"You're going to make me blush," She chuckled, though she wasn't embarrassed in the least. It was all just talk anyway.

Then, out of the blue, the ground suddenly started to shake violently, causing Alice to fall down on her butt. L stood in one place, not affected by the shaking as much as Alice. The maze behind him moved apart and groaned loudly as if old rusty metal was controlling their path, forming a long straight pathway. Alice could only watch with big round scared eyes as the eight foot hedge maze locked into place with one loud click and revealed a brick road that went one way forward. The shacking stopped as soon as the maze came to a halt and all went quite again. Alice stuck to the ground in fear it might start again, her legs shaking a little from the shock. L looked back at the maze and then looked to Alice on the ground. His smile was gone and he was back to being his normal serious self.

"Ready to meet the Queen?"

Alice had no words for him. She was still brain dead from the moving maze behind him.

"I suppose you are having another moment?"

"THAT ISN'T NORMAL!" She shouted, finding her voice once again.

* * *

***Back in reality***

L had found himself squatting on the floor next to Alice who had recently fallen from the couch and was face planted on the ground with her blanket wrapped around her torso in a knot. He was surprised to even see her in such a state since he never actually heard her fall. She was so quite about it that he almost didn't noticed until he saw that nobody was on the couch when he looked. He had to look down to see that she was on the ground, still fast asleep and mumbling bits and pieces of incoherent words. Since her new sleeping form was distracting him, he had no choice but to go over to her and see if he could fix the problem.

As he looked down at the sleeping girls face, he couldn't help but notice her eyebrows were pushed together in worry. She must have been dreaming, though L didn't know if that was a sign of being a bad dream or a good one. He wasn't an expert on the subject and never had many dreams himself.

He put his thumb to his bottom lip out of habit and thought critically on how he was going to accomplish putting her back onto the couch without disturbing her. He had no worries on whether or not he was strong enough, since he knew he was more than capable. He just never picked up enough people in his lifetime to know really how to go about it; especially a young sleeping girl.

L let out a small sigh and grabbed hold of the blanket around her torso. He had to start somewhere and the blanket was going to have to come off first. As he tugged at the tight wrap, Alice's face started to go a little pale. L noticed her lack of color and had a mini panic attack in his mind. The first thing that came to mind was that the blanket must have been too tight around her and she couldn't breathe.

Quickly, L started to unwrap it with more force.

"That isn't normal!" Alice mumbled out loud randomly, scaring L from his squatting position onto the floor.

"Alice?" L whispered, not really sure what she was talking about. He then saw that she had not opened her eyes and was still fast asleep, unaffected in the least and her color back to normal. L looked at her with a blank stare, not sure how to go about with the situation once again.

* * *

***Back to the Dream***

Alice and L made their way down the colorful brick path. Alice had gotten over the moving maze quickly and found herself next to L who was still quiet as ever. The path had seemed like it had gone on for a while, and Alice was starting to grow restless. She fiddled with her fingers and kept trying to look around to find anything interesting. But all she could see was the eight foot hedge that surrounded each side of her.

Alice did get a break when a split in the road came about. The colorful bricks that once intermingled together had then split apart into two separate colors. A yellow brick path went to the right while a red brick path went to the left. Alice stopped when she reached the fork in the road and waited to see which way L would go.

"It's this red path that we need to take to reach the castle. The Queen likes the color red," L announced.

"Where does the yellow brick road lead too?"

"That would be an entire different story Alice." L answered, making his way down the red path. Alice opened her mouth to ask another question, but then decided to not ask at the last minute. It was better if she didn't know anyway.

Catching up to L, Alice started to notice the castle up ahead. It was tall and skinny looking with towers so high, Alice had to arch her head to see it all. The bricks were colorful, with different types of grays and creams all put together. Even though the castle was beautiful, she couldn't push back the feeling she got on the back of her neck as the hairs stood up on end. She was becoming restless again, only that time it was influenced by fear and anticipation. She knew that it was that part of the story that the problems would start to begin.

L was not even aware of the girl's discomfort. Instead, he pulled out a lollypop from his pant pocket and stuck it in his mouth with delight.

As they drew closer, Alice started to notice rose bushes popping up around them and the path became less narrow. They were white roses, though some of them were painted red. Alice knew that there must have been one of the Queens Soldier cards out there painting the roses. She looked around to try and spot him, more eager to know what a life size card would look like walking around, but she found no one. Strangely, Alice saw two little kids up ahead instead painting the roses, rather than the card men. When she saw them more clearly, Alice was shocked to see both the twins, Lea and Liam. They were dressed in an outfits designed to show off a deck of cards, but more specifically, the jack of hearts. They matched too, only Lea wore a skirt version, while Liam wore shorts. Patterns of plaid red crisscrossed over each other. Little symbols of hearts decorated their shirts. On their head, they had mini top hats that had the jack of hearts insignia. To Alice, they were absolutely adorable, but she did have to remind herself that they worked for the evil Queen.

Both Lea and Liam noticed L and Alice approaching. They quickly looked to each other and smiled, which caused Alice to cringe in fear. She never knew what those two were planning, even in real life.

"So, you finally made it out of the forest." Lea spoke first. A revelation then hit Alice like a ton of bricks.

"You were the voices in the forest!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Liam shrugged, his smile still on his lips. He was obviously lying. Alice frowned and placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, maybe I should just tell the Queen what you're up too then," She rebelled. Both Lea and Liam gasped and turned to Alice with fear in their eyes.

"If she found out about these flowers, she would have our heads!" lea squeaked, grabbing her neck. Liam nodded his head vigorously.

"I like my head. I don't want to lose it!"

Alice watched them both panic to each other with interest. She started to feel sorry for them, and knew exactly where they were coming from. She knew they didn't deserve to have their heads cut off.

Alice sighed and calmed down the two with her words.

"Alright, I won't tell. What the Queen doesn't know won't hurt her, right?" She smiled. The twins looked to her and then smiled to each other with joy.

"Thank you Alice!" they both cheered at once. Alice laughed a little with them and then watched them start to paint the roses once again. L finished his lollypop and motioned for Alice to continue to follow him. Alice looked to L and walked back up to him so she wouldn't get left behind. She gave the twins one last look back but continued on her way to the castle to meet with the Queen. As they reach near the end, the castle became more predominant. She had to arch her head up all the way just to see the top of the towers.

"So, shall we go inside?" L asked, snapping Alice back to her real objective. She just noticed that they were standing in from of a large wooden door that was easily five times the size of L and herself. She looked to L with surprise, but then nodded her head in response. L nodded back and then headed to the large door. Alice wondered how he was going to open it, but was disappointed to see that he opened a door his size that was connected to the large wooden door. She would have liked to see L struggle with a door five times his size.

L held open the door for her and Alice gracefully walked through, holding her head up high and trying to look as confident as she could. When she walked into the castle, she notice that the room was almost completely empty except for the red velvet chair at the far end with a women sitting on it. Marble floors decorated the rest of the room with a few white marble columns here and there. Alice however focused all of her attention to the woman sitting on the chair. When she got a good look of her face she was shocked to discover that it was Miss Jane (The housekeeper) in a puffy ball gown decorated with lace and red hearts. On her head she sported a lace veil that covered most of her face, so her emotions were impossible to read. Alice thought she looked stunning, but she knew beauty was only a disguise for the real evil within.

"Come forward my dear," Miss Jane spoke through her veil, raising her finely manicured hand with red polish on the nails.

Alice froze in her spot, unable to breath let alone move. L stood beside her and poked her in the shoulder to see if she was still alive.

"I would listen to her Alice," He whispered to try and get her out of her trance. Alice blinked and shook her head to clear her mind. She had to regain her confidence, so with one gulp, she slowly moved her way toward the Queen. When she got just a few feet away, Miss Jane raised her hand for her to stop. L stayed back, aware that he didn't want to be involved, but rather just observe in the background.

"Do you know why I have summoned you?" Miss Jane then asked with a soothing calm voice. Alice knew that she was just building up for the real fight. She could even feel the tension emanating off her.

"You want to become best friends?" Alice guessed, smiling with her brows in worry. The Queen did not look amused. Instead, she curled her fingers together and turned her head to the side to look at a large marble door. Alice followed her gaze and watched as the door creaked open eerily reveling a bright light on the other side. Seconds later, Mello, Matt, and Near walked through the door as the door finished its full swing. Alice's mouth fell open when she discovered what was really behind the door; a kitchen that was covered in white powder and chocolate batter, very similar to the one in the Wammy House. "Oh god," Alice uttered under her breath.

"Alice Winster, you have been declared guilty for causing chaos and destruction to this castle!" Miss Jane announced with a more loud booming voice. Since the room was so large and empty, it didn't take much for her voice to travel around the room.

"Wait! I don't even get a trail?" Alice complained, knowing anyway that she was doomed.

"Please, you do not deserve such a thing. Just before you came to the castle, you displayed devilish behavior."

"Devilish behavior? What devilish behavior?"

Miss Jane then had a screen pulled down from her right and a video started to play. The video was of Alice talking to the twins when they were painting the roses red.

"Hey, that's not fair! I walked in on that! Anyway, those two were only trying to make you happy. If you didn't have to have such high demand for red roses, they wouldn't have had to do that!" Alice tried to make her case. Miss Jane wasn't pleased to hear that.

"I don't know what you are talking about, but you should have known better then to let those two paint my perfectly beautiful roses. Do you know what the chemicals in that paint are going to do to them? They are all going to die! You are guilty Alice, and that's that!" She shouted, slamming her foot down on the ground, causing the sound to echo around the large room. Off to the side, Mello started to snicker with delight. He was pleased to see that Alice was getting in trouble after so many times she had gotten away with it.

"Really?" She pleaded, realizing the story was not going in the right direction again. She then paused and calmed herself down a bit, thinking over the situation a little more. "You know, I should have seen that coming," She mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I sentence you to a lifetime of cleaning, starting with that kitchen!" Miss Jane announced. Alice's jaw dropped.

"WHAT?"

Mello was on his knees laughing.

"You!" Miss Jane spoke, pointing to the other three where Mello was laughing. "You are her accomplices! You all will share the same fate!"

"WHAT?" Mellow shouted back. Both Matt and Near just sighed.

"HA!" Alice pointed at Mello.

In the background, L was slowly making his way to the door to try and run away. He knew the situation was getting worse and it was only a matter of time until he was involved. Unfortunately Miss Jane noticed his attempt to escape.

"And you!"

L stopped immediately, and turned around slowly, not really wanting to know what his punishment was going to be.

"You never do your fair share of the work, so from now on, you will have to work to earn your sweets."

L's face turned an unhealthy shade of white. He looked like he was going to faint.

"Now wait just a minute! Don't you think that's a little harsh? He works all the time already." Alice tried to reason. Miss Jane wasn't going to listen.

"Are you talking back to me young lady? Fine then, I suppose I will just have to ration you oranges then as well."

Alice's face went just as white as L's. The horror seeped into her brain and all she could do was take in a deep long breaths.

* * *

***Back in reality***

L had finally put Alice successfully on the coach. He uncurled his arms from under her legs and back and then reached for her blanket that was on the floor.

Suddenly, Alice bolted up and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She shrieked, flinging herself up so fast that she pulled herself off the couch and fell on top of L. They both hit the floor with a painful_ thump_, and Alice landed on her back onto L's lap with a bit of the wind knocked out of her. L's ears rang. Alice's scream still echoed in his memory.

Alice took in oxygen quickly and looked up to L who was leaning over her in worry and wonder after he recovered from the essential shock. She blinked then, realizing that it was just a dream and she was fully awake. She relaxed when she figured out that her oranges were going to be safe.

"Are you alright Alice?" L wondered, looking down at her on his lap. Her hair was all around her and he noticed the little bit of sweat on her forehead, but her face was starting to return to its natural color.

"You ever thought about wearing a top hat L?" Alice asked out of nowhere. She was entirely calm at that point.

"Pardon me?" L was thrown through a loop.

* * *

Here's to the reviewers! ***Raises glass***

**Foam Weber: **I love broccoli! Who ever thought to eat the mini green trees are genius! **  
**

**K:** I'm so glad you liked it! I hope you liked this chapter too. **=D**

**hairEbunny:** Thank you! I actually had do to do some research to make that chapter come together. In the end, I suppose we both learned a little something about flowers.

**Isshi Urahara:** Minion! I've never had one of those before! Now I'm all giddy, I can't stop smiling. Thank you sooo much! **XD**

**Thank you everyone for reading!**

Hopefully my next post will be sooner next time.

_Have a wonderful day!_


	12. Mo chara! The Case has been Solved

Hey guys, glad to see you could all make it!

This is chapter 12 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_.

Are you excited?

I know I am! Wooh!

Enjoy the chapter guys!

_(Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note)_

* * *

**_Mo chara_! The Case has been Solved**

Watari found himself running faster than he ever thought was possible. After hearing Alice's scream, he was on his way faster than a speeding bullet. So many horrible scenarios were running through his head, and he knew Alice wasn't the type to fake a scream. It was obvious to him that it was a scream of terror and not one that was usually playful.

As he bound his way down the hall, the scream faded out into silence. He didn't know whether or not that was a good sign, but he wasn't about to stop and contemplate the matter. Without any hesitation, he burst open the wooden door at the end of the hall where both L and Alice were located. Instead of Alice dying like he thought she was, she was lying on L's lap on her back while L was looking over her closely. When L heard Watari bust in, he turned to his good friend to show him that everything was okay. Alice looked to Watari as well, a little bewildered as to why he showed up looking panicked. In the back of her mind, she didn't think she screamed that loud. Feeling a little awkward about the scene, Alice spoke first to break the tension.

"This is exactly what it looks like." She proclaimed in a serious manner, without attempting to get up at all.

"She must have had a bad dream I presume?" Watari addressed L, ignoring Alice's comment completely. He was calm at that point and felt more at ease, knowing that Alice was okay and back to her old ways.

"I'm not entirely sure, but that would be my first assumption." L responded. Alice just sighed.

"There's no tricking you, is there?" She whined to Watari, looking bummed over the fact that he wasn't affected at all by her last comment.

"Miss Alice, I can safely say that you are the last person I would believe." He responded to her as if it was an everyday conversation. Alice burrowed her brows together in frustration, but kept her thoughts to herself. She liked Watari no matter what he said to her, so she wasn't in the least bit offended. In fact, she applauded him for making that choice.

"You know L, if you cuddled me more then it could've of worked," She then referred to L. L looked down into her golden serious, but playful eyes.

"Watari is a brilliant man Alice; I doubt that he would be fooled by that,"

Alice shrugged her shoulders, but agreed with L. There was no getting passed Watari, so Alice didn't think too much about it.

"Well, since everything seems to be fine, I should take my leave now. Miss Alice, you should go back to your room and get some more sleep. It's bad enough we have one person walking around this house with black rings around their eyes." Watari said, looking to L in the last part of his speech.

"I find that insulting Watari," L refuted playfully. "But he is right Alice, it would be best if you went back to bed." He then focused on Alice who hadn't moved from his lap yet. Alice blew her bangs away from her eyes and leaned her head back down on L's lap. After having gone through her recent dream, she wasn't all too willing to go back to sleep. She feared that if she did, the Queen would make her start cleaning, and she wasn't up for working while she slept.

"I can't sleep now, now that I'm already up."

"That's illogical," L replied.

"Well, whoever said I was a logical person?" Alice smiled. Watari smiled along with her in the background. Feeling even more at ease, he took that opportunity to leave. He knew then that his presence was no longer necessary. When he was finished with shutting the door behind him, he stood in the hall a little longer to listen in on the two one last time.

"Do you ever plan on getting off my lap?" L started, not taking in any recognition that Watari had left them both.

"What? You don't like me here?" Alice playfully purred. A second later a thump vibrated the floor and Alice cried out in pain.

"I need to continue my work; I've wasted enough time already." L clarified, causing Watari to chuckle under his breath. Watari then moved himself away from the door and started to head back to his office. He silently thought to himself how Alice was such a wonderful addition to the Wammy House on his way there.

Meanwhile, Alice rubbed her head with her hand to relieve herself from the pain she suffered after hitting the floor. She mentally took note to never sexually harass L when he had a hold on her. She didn't think he was the kind of guy who would hurt somebody, but then again, she's only known him for about a week.

Finally getting up from the floor, Alice looked over to L who had gone back to his computer to work. She looked over at the clock and discovered it was three in the morning. Sagging her head back, she groaned with displeasure.

"Nobody is stopping you from sleeping," L responded to her groan.

"Yes, my pride," Alice answered, sitting down on the couch with a huff. "When I say I'll do something then I'll do it, even if it means I won't get any sleep."

L took note of that and stored the information away for later. It was information that was going to be useful for the future.

"So, have you made any progress on the case?" Alice subtly brought up, trying not to sound too eager. L's eyes dimmed at the thought of his last conversation with his Australian friend. He had almost forgotten about it and was going over in his head on how he would break the news to Alice. He knew it would upset her, but he couldn't lie to her. He was too professional to let important information dance around for too long.

"I heard back from the mission a while ago." He began, his throat slightly dry. Alice clenched her fists and quieted her breathing so she could hear him clearly. She couldn't see L's face since he was turned away from her, but she could already hear in his voice that it wasn't promising. "They were unsuccessful with locating him in the sanctuary," L finally answered. He pulled both hands to his knees to steady himself a little. He didn't have the confidence to face her. The news was not good and if she started to cry, then he would have no idea what do to. It was where his social awkwardness was his downfall.

The room was annoyingly quiet. Alice hadn't said a word back to him and he was starting to get worried. What surprised him seconds later though was not something he ever expected. A small giggle echoed from behind him. He turned around quickly and noticed Alice with a genuine smile across her face, no signs of being upset or sad what so ever.

"Was my wording unclear? I said the search was unsuccessful." L tried again. Alice just laughed once more, shaking her head in the process.

"No L, I heard you the first time," She finally spoke.

"Then why are you amused?"

Alice took a second to put her thoughts together. For a second, she asked herself the same question.

"Well I would be lying if I said I wasn't upset that he wasn't found there, but really, I can't complain. You gave me an opportunity to work with you in one of your cases, just to prove myself of an ability that defies all rational thinking. Not many people even give me the chance to prove myself, so in all actuality, I should be thanking you."

L quietly listened to her, watching her smile as she spoke. She surprised him a great deal. She was a strong girl who seemed to face any challenge on with an iron fist. She never let anything get to her and she always seemed to have an easy going attitude towards life, even when she spoke of upsetting matters such as her home. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but she was growing on him. Her antics were becoming less surprising and more amusing. She always made out to be a good experiment. Even when she didn't understand, she never let herself feel inferior to the others. In fact, she stood out much more among the geniuses in the house. He was starting to see why the children like her so much.

"Alice, I'm glad to see you're cheerful, but don't count yourself out yet. I don't plan on making this your last test. There will still be many more to come until I am confident in my conclusion." He reassured. He knew he didn't have enough evidence yet, and he wasn't about to just end it all there.

Alice gave him a blank stare.

"Eh?"

L gave her a puzzled look in return.

"Was I unclear again?"

Alice shook her head back and forth and slapped her face a little to bring more life to it.

"Well of course you're not going to give up on me! I plan on proving it to you whether you concluded I'm crazy or not!" She then blurted out, her cool demeanor lost and replaced with one that had booming confidence. She then started to laugh with her hands on her hips; A sense of pride rushing through her and erasing any doubts from before.

L looked even more confused, but let go of his worries from before. Since she was back to her cocky self, it seemed L could relax once again.

* * *

Tinker held tightly to the screwdriver as he finished putting in one last bolt to his machine. He had been working on it for nearly an hour, and was satisfied to see he had made progress. It was only going to be his test run, but he was confident in its ability to work properly. His friend, or assistant as he liked to call him, stood by him and observed quietly. They were both out in the back yard next to the garden since they weren't allowed to invent inside any more. After last year's explosion, Tinker was surprised they let him continue with his inventions anyway. Of course, Watari was an inventor himself, so there was a small bond between the two. Watari knew he needed to have a creative outlet, or else there wouldn't have been any point for Tinker to be there at all.

Alice was always fascinated by Tinker's inventions. Usually they were inventions that had no propose, such as the one that released fake spiders from the ceiling and made all the girls scream bloody murder. Of course, Alice wasn't afraid of bugs and found the whole ordeal hilarious. The rest of the Wammy House didn't seem to see the humor it though, and that day Tinker was band from inventing for a week. Matters such as those only came once in a blue moon though, and usually Tinker made sure to keep his inventions to himself. But ever since Alice had come, he found himself showing her more of his inventions each day. He mostly enjoyed the reaction she would have each time he came up with something. His confidence grew with his inventing skills, and he was starting to see progress in his work that he never knew was possible.

As Tinker placed his project on the ground, Alice emerged from the back door and waved to the two young boys happily. She knew she wasn't going to have much time with them since they would have to go to their lessons soon, but the time she did have, she was going to enjoy every second.

She noticed Tinker in his usual attire of overalls and orange T-shirts. His hair spiked up like always, only that time, a head band with goggles over them was pushing some of his hair back. She could tell that he was about to test one of his inventions. Next to him was his good friend Dillon, or _Henchman_ as he liked to be called. For whatever rhyme or reason, Dillon liked playing the sidekick. He was good at inventing too, though he mostly just followed Tinker around. He was only a year younger then Tinker and sported fiery red messy hair and freckles all over his face. He was pure blooded Irish with an accent to match.

"_Mo chara_! Come see what Tinker has made!" Henchman bellowed, his arm waving for her to come over. Alice didn't know Irish, but she knew that he was calling her a good friend. He always referred to her as _Mo chara_, and it always brought a smile to her face to hear so. It was cute to her to hear him speak his native tongue.

"You two are lively this morning," Alice chuckled, closing in on them both as Tinker straightened himself out. He stretched his back and smiled over at Alice with pride.

"I finely finished my prototype!" He declared, smearing some of the grease on his face with his sleeve. He was trying to wipe the sweat off, but in the end he just made it worse.

"_Go deimhin. _He's been working on the blasted thing for a while now." His friend laughed along.

"Well what's this new invention of yours?" Alice wondered, trying to get a good look at the machine on the ground. From what Alice could make out, it looked like a rubrics cube, only it had a glass box surrounding it and inside were all the squares.

"It's a generator." Tinker answered, looking down at the medium sized glass cube. He was so proud of his newest invention and it clearly showed on his face.

"I'm pretty sure generators already exist…" Alice pondered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Henchman shook his head back and forth and copied Alice.

"It's not just a simple generator _pet_, you would not believe how much power this generator has," He answered for Tinker. _Pet_ was another name Henchman used for Alice. It was an Irish thing that Alice found amusing.

"Is it really that powerful?"

"Well this is just the prototype, so this one isn't, but when I build the real one, I bet it could power all of the United Kingdom." Tinker chuckled.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's power up this baby!" Alice cheered. Both the boys cheered along with her, ready to see their hard work come together.

* * *

L set down his phone on his desk and then turned to the monitor above his computer. He had some surveillance videos of an Indonesian factory displayed on the screen and he was watching carefully to see if he could spot any indications' of drug paraphernalia.

After his discussion with Alice, he had sent her back to her room to get more sleep. It was a struggle, but eventually he got her to go. He then spent the next few hours working on his case. He was closer than ever and it was only a matter of time until he caught his subject.

The call he had been waiting for finally arrived when his cell phone went off. L quickly picked up his phone and got straight to the point.

"You found him I presume?"

His Australian friend chuckled from the other line.

"That's right, looks like you were right all along Coil."

L watched on the monitor as some officers darted across the screen. His Australian friend focused on the screen next and tipped his hat to it to show him that everything was going according to plan.

"Very good, report back to me when he is in custody and I will finish filing the case."

"You know mate, I got to say, you're pretty brilliant. I don't know how you knew about those flowers." His friend laughed. L stared straight at the monitor at his comrade and stuck his thumb to his lips.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, before you told us to go searching around that sanctuary right? You must have known about the flowers."

"I don't think I know what you're talking about," L played it cool, trying not to sound anxious, even though on the inside, L was getting restless.

"Your messing with me, aren't you Coil?" The Australian chuckled. "The factory you sent us too used to produce a perfume that carried the _Rafflesia_ as their main ingredient. The whole place reeks of it. It's almost suffocating."

L went numb as the phone in-between his two fingers dropped to the ground. His eyes were wide with shock and he almost forgot how to breathe. On the floor, the Australian voice was faint, but it was clear that he was crying out Coil's name to see if he was still there. When L finally found his way back to reality, he quickly scooped up the phone on the floor and replied to his friend.

"Thank you for all your hard work."

He then clicked the phone shut and immediately started to dial a new number. When the phone began to ring, L turned off the monitor with his Australian friend on it, looking confused down at his own cell phone. He was done with the case, and knew there was nothing more he was needed for.

By the second ring, Watari answered calmly.

"Ah, L, I take it the case is done?"

"Yes, I would like you to prepare me something sweet; I'll be heading down there soon." L replied with a much cooler tone then he thought he would have produced. Inside him a war was still going on and he surprised even himself that he could keep himself so composed.

"Of course sir," Watari replied, and then hung up the phone to get started on L's request. L clicked his phone shut too and bit down onto his thumb. His other hand gripped onto his knee tightly and all his eyes could focus on were the floor. Thoughts raced through his head quickly, it was almost dizzying for him.

* * *

Watari set his phone back into his pocket with a smile. He was glad to hear that L had finished the case. He was a little suspicious that L would leave his room to come and eat his snacks, but Watari didn't think too much about it. He had to start making L's desert right away, so he immediately went to work.

As he started to slice some of the strawberries, he couldn't help but find the house to be particularly quiet. He had noticed that Alice left to the back yard to hang out with the other two boys, though usually they were a lot louder than that. He was pleasantly surprised to hear that all was calm.

The morning was going well, almost too good to be true.

Watari shook his head a little to get rid of his suspicions. He wasn't about to let the morning be ruined by an over active imagination. Taking it out of his thoughts, Watari continued putting the strawberries on the already pre-made cake that was made for L when he completed his work.

L entered the kitchen right when right when Watari finished the cake. Hearing his friend enter the room, Watari turned around and greeted L with a smile. He frowned however when he noticed L's bewildered face. His eyes were wide like always, though he was biting his thumb and there were wrinkles between his brows.

"L?"

L looked up to Watari and stood his place at the entrance unable to move any further.

"Watari, now that I have completed my last case, I have a new one that requires me to travel." He started. Watari listened carefully, knowing there was more L was going to say. "I also have been intrigued by a new development with Alice and I was considering taking her with me on the case."

Watari froze with shock. He was not expecting to hear L so interested in the girl after only a week. He didn't really know what caused L to be interested, but he knew it had to do something with the tests he was giving her. He was impressed himself when he gave Alice one of those tests, but he would have never thought in such a short amount of time that Alice could have such an effect on L.

"Are you sure about that L? She hasn't been her that long and the others would question why you would take her. It's only you and I who know about her so called _ability_." Watari stuttered a little. L was acting a bit irrational and Watari just wanted to make sure that he was in a right state of mind.

L unhooked his thumb from his teeth and was about to answer Watari until he was interrupted by an unexpected noise. An explosion that shook the walls and echoed from the backyard. Three screams came next. It wasn't a terribly loud explosion, but it was one that started to emit smoke that could be seen streaming by the backdoor. Watari quickly looked to the back door where the explosion had been heard. Seconds later Alice came running into the kitchen through the back door coughing. Black dust covered one side of her leg and arm. A little bit was in her hair as well and on her face. She looked like she just came out of a war zone. When she caught a break, she gulped in some fresh air and coughed one last time just to make sure she got out all the soot from her lungs. She then straightened herself out and calmly controlled her demeanor.

"Don't worry guys, just a little fire that got started out by the garden, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find a fire extinguisher would you?" She smiled while asking as if everything was just fine.

Watari couldn't find his voice and L could only stare at Alice's state of form as black soot slowly fell from her arm and leg.

"ALICE THE FIRE IS SPREADING!" Tinker's screams rang out. Alice started to sweat. She then slowly walked backwards to the backyard.

"You know, on second thought, I think I'll just use the hose," She decided. She then booked it back to where the boys were, leaving behind a speechless Watari and a baffled L.

"AHHHH MY ROSES!" Roger's scream came next from outside.

Watari pulled out his handkerchief and started to wipe away the sweat from his forehead. He turned to L who hadn't seemed to take his eyes off the door. He looked deep in thought.

"On second thought Watari, I believe I will take more time thinking about my decision on whether or not I will take her with me."

Watari let out a breath he did not know he was holding. Of course his relief only lasted a second until he started to hear more screams coming from the back yard. He just couldn't image Alice working on a case with L without having something go wrong.

* * *

Thank you everyone for reading!

**K: **I just couldn't resist! I agree with you completely, L would be a good Mad Hatter. (He would also look pretty good too)**  
**

**Isshi Urahara:** That would be epic my little minion, I agree. But I must stick with something a little more subtle. Of course, the build up I think is always the best part. I hope this chapter will let you continue on with that creative spirit you have. Thank you for reading! You have made me very happy!

**Foam Weber: **There are so many outfits he would look good in. If he wore a fedora, then a whip would be needed as well, correct? *Evil grin***  
**

**hairEbunny:** Here's that twist! I've got plenty more where that come from too. Also, Near with bunny ears, I nearly screamed with delight. Sooo cute!

**animeamd:** Thank you so much for reading! I'm sooo happy you think it's turning out good!

**Saber Amane:** _(A review for the first chapter) _Thank you! I hope you enjoyed the other chapters as well.

All of you are awesome! Everyone who reads and or reviews my story deserves a lollipop! Thank you everyone!

* * *

**_Mo chara: _**_My dear friend _

_**Go deimhin: **Indeed_


	13. The Wammy House way of Punishment

**Welcome ladies and possibly gentlemen!**

This is chapter 13 of _An Ace up me Sleeve_

You would not believe the trouble I had this week in trying to get this done.

I don't mean I had writers block. I have been fortunate enough to not get that yet.

I mean my computer...

I had this chapter all written out, and then I lost it when I had to reformat my computer.

"Why didn't you save it somewhere safe?" you ask.

I tried, I saved it on another hard drive, but I had to reformat that too...

The story doesn't end there folks, oh no.

When I got my computer running again, I was like "yeah, now I can get this done!"

Halfway through retyping it, my computer died...

So after hitting my computer with a hammer for several hours, I decided to go and find another computer to type on.

Luckily, one such exists in my house, so I typed it up a third time and here it is!

So **PLEASE** enjoy this chapter. I can tell you right now, I work on it more then I should have.

_(Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note)_

* * *

**The Wammy House way of Punishment**

The room was quiet except for the sounds of clicking. Outside, the sun was high and the birds were singing their good mornings to the cool summer's breeze. Inside the room stood Alice. She was in the corner of the room facing the wall, a dark shadow covering over her like a vale. On either side of her stood Tinker and Henchman, both covered in that same vale. They were all being punished by none other than Roger himself. Recently they had destroyed one of his prized rose bushes, setting it ablaze as if it was a bonfire on the beach. That morning, Alice had never in her lifetime, seen Roger so angry. It was as if he just ate red hot chili peppers and he had to let the steam out his ears since his teeth were clenched too tight. Alice thought that he would have caught fire any second.

For their punishment for burning Roger's roses to a crisp, they were sent to the living room corner and ordered to stay there until Roger was satisfied that they had learned their lesson. As simple as the punishment sounded, it wasn't all too nice and easy. To make sure the three wouldn't run away, they were each tied up with ropes. Their arms bound behind their backs and then tied around their torso's. Their feet bound together, leaving no room for mobility. In general, they weren't going anywhere.

"Isn't tying up children illegal?" Alice questioned, moving her fingers to see if she could still feel them. Her arm was starting to go numb and that worried her.

"Legally you're not a child, though your personality would contradicted that," Near replied to her from behind. The clicking noise from before was Near. He was building a colorful wall made out of Lego's behind the three, enclosing them to just that corner. He had been at it for about 15 minutes so far and he was already up to their knees.

"Near, what are you making?" Alice wondered, a little quiver in her voice. Near never truly showed any emotion, so she never knew what he was thinking. For all she knew, he could have been building the wall to trap and suffocate her to death. She did doubt that Near would ever have such malicious intent, but then again, he did at one point rip the head off a teddy bear and place it on top of a card castle. He said that it was just a topper to make the structure more esthetically pleasing to the eye, but Alice wasn't too esthetically pleased.

"I'm making you a castle," he replied once more, responding in a way that sounded as if his project was obvious. Alice gulped at the word castle. She couldn't help but think how much she loved her head.

"Of course, a castle…"

"Hey Alice," Tinker's voices interrupted Alice's thoughts. "I'm sorry about all of this." Alice turned to Tinker with surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"The roses weren't your fault, but you got in trouble anyway, I'm sorry." Tinker explained, looking down at the floor with sorrowful eyes. He truly felt bad that he got Alice in trouble. Alice was indifferent though. She was so used to getting into trouble that she would have been more surprised if she wasn't tied up and put into a corner.

"It's alright Tinker, don't worry about it. If this is the worst Roger can do, then bring on his punishments!" She smiled with pride. Tinker looked back up at her with amazement, but then smiled along with her. That's what he really liked about Alice; her happy-go-lucky attitude along with her clever sarcasm all mixed together.

"That explosion was pretty cool, so I think it was worth it." Henchman added in, a smile just as wide as Tinker's on his lips. Tinker nodded over to his friend in agreement.

"Well look what we have here…" A cynical voice appeared, causing Alice to freeze so fast it was as if she was dunked into the Arctic Ocean. It was Mello who entered the room from the left and Matt following right behind him, a smile that he couldn't for the life of him control.

"I heard they burned down Roger's roses," He added. The scene before him was just too good to be true.

On the back of Alice's neck, she could start to feel the sweat run down. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and her hands grew a little clammy. She didn't want to have to deal with them when she was tied up. She would have no opportunity to run away if Mello ever decided to attack her. At that point, the only thing that gave her a little comfort was the wall Near was building behind her to separate her from them. It wasn't much, but Alice didn't have much else to rely on. Her wits and clever banter would only get her so far.

"Looks like you finely got what you deserved; finally some justice in this house." Mello went on, a smile on his face as well. He was just satisfied more or less about the situation.

To Alice's surprise though, she didn't have to say anything. The one to respond to Mello was Tinker, and she couldn't believe what she heard.

"What do you know about justice? You're so conceded, you probably don't even know what the real world looks like!"

At that point it seemed like the whole room became clouded. Alice had never felt so much tension and sparks in her life. Even though no words were being spoken, that didn't mean she still didn't hear the murderous thoughts drifting all around her. She could feel goose bumps crawl all over his skin. It got so cold she was almost convinced that she could see her own breath. By the time the silence cleared up, Mello was shoving Tinker up against the wall with his black leather boot and screaming with rage, shark teeth in all.

"YOU WANT TO REPEAT THAT YOU BRAT?"

The only way Mello could have reached Tinker was to break through a part of Near's wall, which caused a hole to be exposed in the castle and Lego pieces to spill about. Near looked dumbfounded. Alice looked shocked too, only her attention was on the boys beside her. Tinker had his head and upper portion of his body pressed to the wall. Mello's foot was digging into his upper back and he wasn't being gentle. Mello didn't care if he was crushing him; he was never going to let a kid talk to him like that.

"YOU HEARD ME STUPID!" Tinker screamed back. That shocked Alice even more. She had never seen Tinker stand up against Mello. Just a few days ago they were running away from Mello after hitting him with an egg. But now Tinker was being shoved against the wall, not phased at all by Mello's intimidation's. Alice could only applaud Tinkers bravery.

"HOW ABOUT I JUST KILL YOU RIGHT HERE ON THE SPOT?" Mello growled, shoving his foot a little harder in Tinker's back. Tinker wasn't going to back down.

"YOU ACT MORE CHILDISH THEN ALICE!"

"Hey now…" Alice muttered, a little offended by his words.

"YOU'RE THE ONE TIED UP IN A CORNER YOU HYPOCRITE!"

"My castle…" Near whine in the background, picking up a few of the fallen pieces and examining them with depressed eyes.

"LET LEADER GO!" Henchman shouted next. He was starting to feel more brave as well, influenced by Tinker's vitality.

"SHUT UP YOU LEPRECHAUN!" Mello shouted back at Henchman. Henchman turned as red as his hair.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLIN LEPRECHAUN?"

"Hey Mello, maybe you should stop," Matt spoke up from across the room. Even though he attempted to say something, Alice could hear the uninterest in his voice. He said it so flatly that Alice could tell he wasn't really trying.

"You're a big help Matt," She sarcastically said.

"I don't see you trying sunshine." Matt replied, smirking in the process. He had her there. She slumped forward in shame. She would have said something, but she didn't want to ruin it for Tinker. It was his first time sticking up for himself and she didn't want to stop him from saying what he wanted to say.

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT! A GIRLY IDIOT!"

"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE DEAD!" Mello screamed, shoving his foot in even deeper. A vein was pulsing over his head and Alice could have sworn she saw fire come out of his mouth.

"MELLO, ENOUGH!" Watari's booming voice echoed from the right entrance across from Matt. He stood at the doorway with wide eyes and fast intakes of breath. Alice figured he must have run there.

Mello immediately dropped his foot and turned to Watari with surprise. Tinker fell to his knees, his body limp against the wall. A sigh of relief escaped through his lips a second later.

"Mello, they are being punished right now, so I would appreciate it if you leave them alone until their punishment is over," Watari calmed down, straightening himself out to make him look more presentable.

Mello glared in return, not really happy about being interrupted, but backed away anyway. He knew better then to go against Watari and he didn't want to have to be punished as well. When Mello reached his friend, he gave one last glare back at the three in the corner and then made his way out of the left exit. Alice could hear angry mumbles from Mello as he proceeded down the hall.

Watari sighed with relief as the rooms tension died out. He was just glad he got there on time before somebody was killed. Looking to Tinker on his knees, Watari quietly examined the inventor to see if he could find any damage. Alice looked to him as well, but she was not too worried about his health. Alice clearly saw a victorious smile on Tinkers face, and that's all she needed to see to know that Tinker was fine.

"That was pretty bad ass Tinker," She praised him, smiling in return. Tinker just smiled even wider back at her. He probably would have done a piece sign had his arms not have been tied up.

"You are either really brave or really stupid to go up against Mello. I've got to give you your props kid." Matt laughed. He would have followed Mello out of the room, but he was to curios to see what would happen next. It wasn't like he was banned from the room anyway.

"Leader, you were awesome! _Uamhnach_!" Henchman laughed as well, his accent strong with excitement.

"Alright, that's enough now," Watari interrupted the happy children. All except for Near, who was completely surrounded by a dark black purplish fog. He was slowly rebuilding the wall that was destroyed, but his depression had not gone away. The only thing that was running through his mind was the time wasted away after having his work destroyed. "Boys, your lessons are about to start, so I will be letting you both go now." Watari continued. Both the boys groaned with displeasure. They would have rather been tied up with Alice. Alice groaned as well, only her groan was associated with her displeasure about having to stay tied up by herself. She didn't have any lessons to go to, so her day was free, leaving enough time for Roger to punish her as long as he wanted.

Watari ignored their groans and untied both the boys quickly, making sure not to mess with Near's wall. He knew better then to destroy anything Near made. After the boys were freed from their ropes and pulled away from the corner, Watari pushed them to the door to make sure they made it to their lessons on time. Tinker and Henchman looked back at Alice with sad eyes as they were being pushed.

"Don't worry Alice, we will come back for you!" Tinker cried out as they were forced out the room. Alice only slumped her body forward and frowned. The dark depression that was once around Near was then over Alice. Near's mood had lifted when he put back the last piece of Lego onto the castle wall. The hole was completely fixed and all was right once again. Watari turned to Near next.

"Near, you have to go to your lessons as well."

Near looked to Watari and then back up at Alice. His finger slowly curled a section of his white hair.

"Hold in there Alice," He quietly said to her, his round unemotional eyes looking up to her. Even though there was no emotion on his face, his voice said it all. Alice felt the love, and her dark aura completely vanished and replaced itself with one that was pink and sparkly. She turned to Near with a loving smile.

"I will Near, don't worry about me." Her eyes glittered. Near gave her a quick smile in return, pleased with himself that he could make her happy. He then stood up and proceeded to follow Watari out the room. Watari looked to Alice one last time and then made his way out too, his head shaking back and forth with a sigh. When Alice noticed they were both gone, she immediately turned back into the depressed queen of her newly built castle, the black aura encircling her like moths fluttering about over her head.

"That was a complete 180." Matt chuckled, scaring Alice a little. She had almost forgotten that he was still in the room.

"I'm not good at math," She grumbled, not even attempting to look back at him. Matt just started to laugh even more. "Don't you have to go to your lessons too?" Alice then wondered. Matt shook his head.

"Not here I don't,"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm too old for the lessons here, so I go to college," He answered. Alice gapped in astonishment.

"College? Really?" She gasped, more surprised to hear that the Wammy house even let their children leave the house to learn. She always figured the house was a Jack of all trades when it came to education.

"Yeah, I go to a couple actually. One of them is pretty close, but the other two are across country."

Alice sucked in her breath quickly.

"Holy cow Batman!"

Matt grabbed hold of his knees and started to laugh even harder. Out of all the years he had lived in the Wammy house, he had never experienced so much fun in his life. Every day he grew to appreciate Alice even more.

As Matt continued to laugh at Alice and Alice continued to try and image going to three colleges at once, both of them didn't notice L enter through the right, his bare feet moving across the floor lazily. Taking in the scene in front of him, he quietly photocopied Alice's state of form in his mind. Never in the history of the Wammy house had somebody been tied up as a punishment. Not even Mello. So it was a historic moment L didn't want to forget.

"Matt, your ride is here." He then found his voice, turning to the laughing boy across from him. Both Matt and Alice jumped, not really ready to hear L come out of nowhere. Matt held his heart while Alice turned to L in question. "The cab is waiting outside for you," L repeated. Matt looked to L with a bit of hesitation.

"Alright, I'm off then," He sighed, not really wanting to leave. He was enjoying his time with Alice and he didn't want to have it end. "See you later Alice, try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone, I don't want to miss anything," He waved, walking backwards to leave the room. Alice grinned over to Matt playfully.

"I can't guarantee anything,"

Matt laughed in return, but then made his way out of the room, his boots clunking on the wood floors. All was quiet once again after he left as Alice faced the wall. She didn't want to deal with L all too much since she knew he would just tease her, so she focused more on her punishment them him. To her surprise though, L didn't go straight for the sarcasm.

"I have some good news Alice," He started, acting like he wasn't even aware of her being tied up. Alice turned to him in curiosity, twisting her body so she could see him fully. "The case has been solved and now he is in custody." He continued, referring to the drug dealer case they both worked on last night.

"Well that's no surprise Mr. greatest-detective-in-the-world. Congratulations," She grinned. L savored the praise for a moment and then continued on.

"I now have a new case in which I believe will make another good test for you."

Alice pursed her lips together; a bad feeling in the back of her mind nagged her. L payed close attention to Alice. He calculated in his head how his experiment was going to be played out. His first choice was to keep her unaware of her being right about the flowers. In order for her to repeat last times results, he didn't want her to have any more confidence then she had before. So for the moment, he was going to avoid that subject.

"What case is this?" Alice hesitated.

"The case resides in France, which is where we will be going tomorrow."

Alice started to choke on her own breath.

"WHAT?"

"Do you not know where France is? I'm pretty sure a regular high school education would have taught you that."

"No not that! Why France of all places?"

"Crime happens everywhere Alice, I can't pick and choose where criminals will be."

Alice just sighed in defeat. She was happy to know L was giving her another chance, but on the other hand, she didn't want to leave the Wammy house. They were her family, and she didn't want to leave them after having only been with them for little over a month. It was even hard on her to see Matt go.

"I'm sorry that this disappoints you. You do not have to go with me if you choose not to."

"No wait!" Alice caught her breath. "I'm sorry, I do want to go, I was just having a moment is all."

"Good, because I already bought your plane ticket and there was no getting a refund back."

Alice's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Alright, now that this has been determined, I will be happy to explain in greater detail about the case. Please follow me to the office and we'll discuss it more from there." He stated, sounding a little more cheerful then before. Alice gave him an awkward look. She was supposed to be in time out, but L was practically the head of the house, so she didn't really know who she should have been listening to. As she pondered the thought, L turned around and started to head for the door. "Don't keep me waiting Alice, time is of the essence."

Alice started to freak out as she watched him leave the room.

"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSE TO FOLLOW YOU? I'M TIED UP AND CORNERED IN BY A TWO FOOT WALL OF LEGO'S!"

* * *

Alice sat quietly on the royal blue antique couch that used to be covered in flowers. The room had been recently cleaned, and she could see more clearly how big the room was, which was a lot bigger then what she had remembered. L was sitting right next to her on the couch in his hunched over position, his toes dangling off the side and a tea cup in his hand. He was stirring in some sugar he added only seconds ago.

Alice was freed from her rope imprisonment at some point, though it took L a little while to come back and free her. She wasn't too happy about that, but then again, she wasn't surprised. Instead of staying angry with him, Alice decided revenge would be a better option, and so, sooner or later she was going to get back at him. She didn't know when that was, but it was going to happen.

After taking a sip from his tea, he pulled out a folder and handed it over to Alice next to him. She gladly took the folder from him and opened it up to find a picture along with papers that had lots of writing on them. It wasn't in English so Alice figured it must have been in French since that's where their case was going to be.

"So this is the man we need to catch?" Alice asked, ignoring the other papers and going straight to the picture. She couldn't read French, let alone speak the language.

"That's correct, though I would like you to avoid the photo for now until we reach France." L clarified. Alice looked to L with a bit of wonder.

"Why?" She asked, putting the photo back anyway.

"We've already tested your ability with photos, so I would like to change the experiment a bit. Please just wait until we reach our destination."

Alice shrugged her shoulders and let the topic go. She had to listen to L, so she was going to wait. Moving on then, she continued with more questions.

"So what's this case about anyway?"

L shifted a little in his seat to make himself more comfortable.

"We are looking for a serial killer, "He started. Alice winced at the name. She never liked the idea of killing; especially if it happened in a row. "The man in the photo, who I won't be naming for now due to our new experiment in which will later be issued, is the serial killer who has had about three victims so far."

"That's not good," Alice cringed.

"The officers down in France have been tracking him, but the trail went dry about a month ago."

"And this is when you were called?"

"Correct." L finished, nodding over to Alice. Alice crossed her arms and started to flick her finger on her upper portion of her arm.

"So why is it that we need to go to France? Your last case was all the way over in Indonesia and yet you stayed here at the Wammy House."

"Yes, of course, I do have the option of working at the Wammy house, but having social experience along with travel are of the utmost importance for my work. The sanctuary down in Indonesia only came to mind because I had experienced it there myself."

"I guess that's true. Looking at a photo of the Eiffel tower would be different then actually standing next to it." Alice clarified for herself. L just took another sip of his tea to let Alice think it over. She was starting to understood L's job more clearly and that pleased him.

His job usually consisted of him being by himself, but since Alice was going to tag along, things were going to be different. Sure, he had Watari often, but the two never discussed anything passed formalities. Work was the only topic besides the occasional dessert discussion. L believed the next case with Alice was going to be a lot more lively. Whether that was a good or bad thing was going to have to depend on how the outcome played out.

"Do you remember our first conversation Alice?" L then brought up. Alice titled her head to the side to try and remember. A second later she nodded with pink cheeks flaring. The thought of the phone replayed in her head.

"I don't really remember much about that conversation, sorry…" She mumbled, moving her eyes to the side to avoid eye contact. L smiled, but then answered her quickly to try and not confuse her.

"I do not mean that conversation, though I will have to have a talk with you about that later. I'm referring to the one where discussed your home life and travels with your _friend_."

Alice looked back to him, her normal color returning quickly.

"Yeah, I remember that."

"In that conversation we came up with your nick name. When we leave this house Alice, you will only refer to yourself as Ace. Please do not ever use your real name for anything." He emphasized.

"Is it that dangerous to use my real name?"

"Your real name is everything to you. If your name were to somehow get in the wrong hands, there is no telling what the consequences could be. I would not even be surprised if death was one of them."

Alice gulped and intertwined her fingers on her lap.

"Alright, got it, real name equals death," She finished.

"You shall not refer to me as L either," L continued, putting down his empty tea cup on the coffee table in front of him.

"But isn't L your nick name?"

"Yes, but it has become far too well known in the world to be used, so I will come up with a new identity before we leave."

Alice sighed and leaned her head back on the head rest. All of the new information was starting to cloud her mind, and she still couldn't even imagine leaving the next day for France.

"I know this may seem like a lot to take in, but do not fret Alice. We won't be leaving for good. Since the case already had a good lead, the job shouldn't take too long. And if your ability works out well, then we should have the case solved in a day."

She smiled to herself. She liked L's attempt to try and release her of her worries, but really, all he was doing was adding more pressure on her. Catching the bad guy in one day would be a miracle.

"Guess I should start packing…" Alice exhaled.

Suddenly, Roger's voice echoed through the house, shouting out Alice's name in rage. His voice was so thunderous she was convinced that he was using some sort of device to make it seem louder. Alice sprang from the couch in fear and ran behind it to protect herself. She knew he was going to find out she was missing, though she didn't think he would notice so soon. She was even surprised to hear Roger's voice from the first floor, since she was all the way up on the third. Alice looked to L for help, her eyes pleading with all their might. L glanced at Alice in return, only seeing her hands and upper portion of her face. The rest of her was quivering behind the couch. He got up from the couch quickly and proceeded to head for the door.

"I believe I shall start packing as well."

"DAMNIT L, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"

* * *

Thank you so much everyone who reads this! Sorry about ranting in the beginning. I'm better now, I promise.

I would also like to thank the reviewers! I had so many this time, you would not believe how much my mouth hurts from smiling.

**animeamd:** Well I hope you liked Near in this chapter =D Thank you so much!**  
**

**Frappegurl777:**_(Review for chapter 2)_ I like to think Mello brings more fun to the story. Also, yes they do have alcohol in the Wammy House, but it is only brought out for special occasions, and the younger children are not allowed to drink it until they are of age.**  
**

**Foam Weber:** Fire is pretty, I agree. : )

**Isshi Urahara:**I love mentioning people, so its a win-win situation for both of us! I promise to sexually harass him more often, you have my word as your leader.

**The-Dark-Love-Writer:**That makes me soooo happy to hear! Bad ass would be a wonderful way to describe her. Thank you sooooo much!

**Chary: **Thank you! Your name is cute too by the way. I like it!**  
**

**jennyz:**Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Oh, and one more thing...Thank you!

**hairEbunny:**I'm am so glad you think I'm a good writer. It really makes me happy to know I'm at least doing it well. I consider myself an armature, but I know I will be able to improve with comments like yours. Thank you! The next chapter I think you will like a lot. It's actually one of my favorites so far, so when that comes out, please tell me what you think.

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:**Alright, I'm actually not very good at riddles, but I'll try it out. So if the taxi driver is going the wrong way and the police don't stop him, that means hes not doing anything illegal. In that case, the only way for him to be not doing anything illegal is by not driving a car, since that would have been the only reason he would have gotten a ticket. So he was either riding a bike or walking down the street...I could be wrong but that's my guess. Anyway, your other question, they don't call her Ace, because it's not really necessary when shes just with them. they already know her real name, so there would be no point in calling her a nick name. When she leaves the house however, that's a different story. I hope this chapter explained it better for you. Dylan, Lily and snickers...those are obviously names, though one of them wouldn't be human unless it was a nick name. This one has got me stumped...who are they?

**Hells Twilight: ***squeals* Thank you soooo much! I promise to have the next update sooner! (I hope)**  
**

**123:** The romance will come eventually, and it will be awesome. I explained the kira case thing before in one of my headings, I believe in chapter 4 or 5 maybe. anyway, I wont be having Kira come in at all. I mean, time has already passed on and if I did get into it, Light wouldn't be in high school or his first year in collage, so the story would be thrown off. I do have a good story for this though, so keep on reading! Thank you so much for reading and the great question! YOU ROCK!

* * *

**_Uamhnach_: **Awesome**  
**


	14. Off to Paris, France

_Bonjour_!, this is chapter 14 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

**WARNING:** In this chapter there will be a conversation in complete **French**...I'm going to tell you this right now my wonderful readers, I don't know any French to save my life. Sure, I may know the simple words such as _thank you_ or _yes_, but other than that, I don't know anything. To help me with the French for this chapter, I relied on the internet, and we all know how reliable the internet is, so PLEASE French speakers, tell me if I said anything wrong, or if it doesn't sound right. I wont be offended at all. In fact, you can even yell at me if you want. I would deserve it for relying on just the internet to speak French anyway. (The translation will be at the end of the Chapter)

**NEW WARNING: **The French has been fixed people! Well I couldn't really tell you it's correct, but some of my wonderful reviewers have corrected me on some of it. It only goes to show you that the internet is far from reliable. Thank you _soooo_ much **Vertigen** and **Foam Weber**! You two really helped me out a lot!

On that happy note, ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

_(Disclaimer: I own Alice and my other OC's, but not Death Note)_

* * *

**Off to Paris, France**

Alice tugged at her luggage with force. She had been pulling on her large suit case for nearly 15 minutes and already she was getting tired. She had only made it as far as down the hall from her room, and with a couple more good tugs she would be at the stairs in no time. Her arms were sore and she could feel the sweat run down the back of her neck.

"Having some trouble with your things?" L spoke. He was standing next to the stair case waiting for Alice. His hands were in his pockets and he was slouched over as always. Alice only grunted back in response to L. The 15 minutes she had been working at her luggage, L had only watched, not lifting a finger to help her. If that wasn't bad enough, L had ditched her the night before, leaving her as prey for Roger. Instead of the ropes like she thought she was going to get, she was handcuffed instead to a desk located in a remote room that oddly resembled a cell from the renaissance. She was then forced to write a ten page paper on what was considered appropriate behavior. Alice was not a writer, and after having written that, she was sure she would never pick up a pencil ever again.

"What about your suit case?" Alice groaned, jerking her luggage a little closer to the stairs. Even though she had every right to be angry at L, she wasn't. She knew the consequences of her actions when she was freed, and she fully accepted them. Revenge however, never left her mind.

"My things have already been prepared and are all ready to go. I'm waiting on you now." L replied.

"Well sorry your majesty, I'm going as fast as I can." She scoffed.

"I don't believe an attitude like that will make the process any faster."

"Then why don't you give me a hand you bastered!" She shouted back. Alice wasn't really a morning person, and it was clear to L that she didn't get much sleep last night. She had spent most of the night hanging out with the children after her punishment, so she didn't get to bed until late at night.

"I would be glad to give you a hand, but I generally don't help those who insist on cursing at me,"

Alice fell to her knees and slammed her head on to her luggage.

"Why must you torture me so?" She whimpered into her suit case. L was silent for a moment. He could hear the tiredness in her voice. He knew that she didn't want to leave the Wammy house, and yet he was forcing her to come with him. He did feel the guilt a little, but he masked it well by overlaying it with work. In the end, it was for her benefit anyway, so he just had to keep reminding himself that. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he shuffled over to Alice and squatted down to be at eye level with her.

"I know this may seem out of character, but I have something I wish to ask of you." He began, his voice a little more quiet than usual. Alice turned her head so she could see him. She didn't lift it up though since the position she was in was actually quite comfortable.

"Hm?"

"It has been only a week so far that we have known each other, and I'm not certain about what's the average time span for something like this is…"

"What is it L?" Alice grew more curious. It wasn't often L would linger around what he wanted to say. She could even hear the awkwardness in his voice, which usually had confidence.

L pressed his thumb to his bottom lip out of habit and looked into Alice's golden large round eyes.

"Alice Anne Winster, will you be my friend?"

Alice fell down sideways on top of her luggage out of pure surprise.

"Why would you ask such a question?"

"I would understand if you refused."

"Refuse? What are you talking about? Weren't we already friends?"

L stared at her in silence, going over in his mind to try and figure out when such an agreement ever took place. Alice just smacked her forehead and started to laugh on the ground, unable to get up and look at him. Her snorts returned immediately, following each laugh.

"Oh L," She gasped out in-between her snorts. "What am I going to do with you?"

L smiled down at the laughing girl, more delighted to see that she was in a better mood. Of course, he was also happy to know that she considered him her friend.

* * *

When all the packing had been said and done, Alice stood by the entrance gate, looking back at the house with a sigh. None of the children were going to be able to see her off, which is why she stayed up late with them all last night to say her good-byes. She had to lie to the others about where she was going since L didn't want the others to know, so she told all the children that she was going to visit some of her family and friends. That was a complete joke though since she hated her family, and what little friends she did have, she didn't even know if they liked her, or if they liked her money. Either way, she was leaving the house with a lie digging into her conscious.

"It's time to go." L's voice broke through the morning silence. Alice didn't look his way. She continued to stare at the house with remorse.

"Can't we just take them all with us?" she cried, not able to move from her spot at the gate. Alice heard L sigh from behind her.

"There wouldn't be enough room in the car."

Alice groaned once again.

"I can feel my heart breaking. Do you see it? It's right there on the ground in isty bisty pieces."

"Come on now Ace, let's go," L replied, grabbing hold of Alice's hand and pulling her toward the shiny black Bentley. Alice was a little surprised to feel the contact, his hand considerably warm and large, but what really surprised her was the name L referred to her as.

"You called me Ace…" She said mainly to herself.

"That is your name, remember?" L answered her. Alice thought about it for a moment and then a light bulb went on her in head.

"Right…" She slurred, winking at L to show that she remembered.

"Ace, I think it would be best if you never left my sights while on this trip."

Alice huffed at L's request.

"I don't need a babysitter,"

L then jerked Alice forward and forced her into the Bentley, causing her to head face first into the leather back seat.

"Quite the contrary Ace. I just don't have the confidence to let you go yet." L stepped into the car and pushed Alice's legs off his side of the seat so he could sit down. Alice grunted when her feet hit the car floor.

"You suck," she pouted into the leather seat, not even making any attempt to sit up.

"Ace, please put on your seat belt," Watari spoke up from the front seat. He was their driver and he was going to escort them to the airport. He wanted to go with them to France, but L had insisted that he should stay at the Wammy house and let L work on it by himself. No matter how much he argued with that decision, L was set in his ways. Watari just had to suck it up and wait for the call when something would go wrong, or even worse, explode. Knowing Alice, Watari believed something had to go wrong, and he already had flights prepared in advance for when that happened.

* * *

Watari sat down in one of the many cushioned chairs that were up against the large glass window. The window looked out at the runway that both L's and Alice's plane would take off of. He was just there to watch the plane take off. He always felt that even though they weren't going to be able to see him, somehow his wave good-bye would be sensed.

As he sat quietly in the chair, his phone in his pocket went off. He swiftly pulled it out and looked at the caller idée. It was L calling, and that worried Watari a little. He had just sent them off and already Alice was causing a disturbance. With one swift motion, he flipped open his phone and answered as calmly as he could.

"Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine, I was calling to tell you the plane will be delayed for an hour, so you do not have to wait for us." He responded to his friend. L picked up the panic in Watari's voice, and spoke in a more soothing way to try and calm him down. Watari sighed with relief, his stress leaving his troubled thoughts. That relief didn't last long however when Watari overheard Alice in the background.

"What does this button do?"

A loud blast of air then erupted through the phones receiver. A second later, the noise was turned off.

"Ace, please do not press any of the buttons," L ordered.

"How am I supposed to know what the buttons do if I don't press them?" Alice rebelled.

"There are pictures next to the buttons to explain that."

"Oh right, like I'm suppose to know what that picture is! It looks like a dog humping a man's leg!"

Watari took out his handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

"Excuse me Watari, we are going to have to continue this conversation some other time. I will make sure to notify you when our plane takes off." L returned back to Watari. Watari nodded his head even though he knew L could not see him.

"Yes, of course, have a safe trip."

Another sound of a switch turned on and then a soft _bang_ went off in the background.

"Oh masks!" Alice giggled. Watari heard L sigh.

"I will attempt to do so, thank you," He replied to his friend.

The line then went dead, and all Watari could do was run his hand through his hair and put away his handkerchief. Silently he prayed for their safety, mostly for the people in France.

* * *

Alice watched as different bags went by, each different sizes and colors. The plane ride hadn't been long and at that point she was inside the Roissary air port in Paris waiting for her luggage to come around the rotating machine. All around her were crowds of people moving about. Alice hadn't been in that kind of environment for a while, and she was starting to understand why the Wammy kids didn't like crowds. They were loud and annoying, and what made it even worse was the fact that she had no idea what anybody was saying. It was all in French, and Alice didn't know any French. She took French in high school, but she remembered nothing she had learned. She subtlety cursed at herself for not paying attention in class.

On the other hand, Alice found out that L was fluent in the language. He spoke it as if it was his native tongue, though not knowing L too well, she wouldn't be surprised if it was his first language. L was at the moment getting their hotel ready along with chatting with two women at the front desk. She could see that the two women were uncomfortable with L. This caused Alice to smile. L was a character, so if you didn't know him personally, then of course one would feel awkward around him. He was a bit disturbing, with his wide curious eyes, his hunched over back, and his usual bare feet, though those ladies were lucky enough to not see them since L was wearing his tennis shoes.

Shaking off any of her thoughts, Alice went back to looking at the revolving suit cases. She had already grabbed L's a while ago and so she was just looking for hers. She was pretty sure that she was seeing the same bags over again, but she didn't give up hope. In her suit case, she packed most of everything she owned, which wasn't much, but still enough to get her through the trip. So if she were to have lost it, then she wouldn't know what to do. She continued to examine each bag more carefully; cursing a little more when each bag that wasn't hers went by.

"Is everything alright Sophie?"

Alice jumped at L's voice from behind her. Earlier on the plane they both agreed to use names that sounded more normal. Of course she would still be called Ace, but out in public she was known as Sophie, the newlywed who just got married to Theo and was on her honey moon in Paris. L didn't think a detailed back story was needed since they weren't going to chat with the locals all that much, but Alice had insisted. If she was going to participate with L on the case, she had to make it more fun, otherwise she wouldn't know what to do with herself.

"I think they lost my bag honey," Alice innocently whined, batting her eyelashes in the process.

"That's unfortunate. I would suggest talking about this with Baggage claim, but I wouldn't want anybody to know our location, so you are going to have to forget about it completely."

Alice chocked on her own breathe.

"WHAT?"

"I'm truly sorry _darling_, but don't worry, I hear Paris is one of the best places to find fashion. You should have no trouble at all getting what you need here."

"shopping?" Alice smiled slowly, her mind drifting off at the sound of the word. In her heart, she was a true blooded girl, and one thing she couldn't resist for the life of her was shopping. She wasn't obsessed with it, but every now and then she would have this urge to go out and buy something, which usually turned out to be something that she never needed. Either way, she was already in her dream land, imaging the many stores that awaited for her in Paris.

L noticed her far off stare, and took the opportunity to pull out his phone and dial his good friend.

"We have arrived, I've sent you the coordinates to or hotel, so please make sure everything is prepared for when we get there." He said first after Watari answered. After a couple more words were exchanged, L said his good-byes, and then he hung up his phone. He turned to Alice who was still in her dream world and poked her in the shoulder to bring her back to earth. Alice felt the disturbance on her shoulder and shook her head to clear her mind.

"We have a cab waiting outside for us, shall we get going?"

Alice looked to L with a large smile on her face.

"Lead the way sweet thang!"

* * *

Alice stood in front of a hotel so big, she had to stretch her neck to see the top. It was so grand, she thought at any moment she would see the queen pull up in her horse and carriage and walk inside. Her parents were rich, but she had never stayed in that nice of hotel before. In fact, she avoided travel as much as possible when she lived with her family. It was less stressful, and that left her time to do the things she wanted to do. Of course, there were times when she was forced to go, so she has plenty of experience in traveling.

"Is this really where we will be staying?" She asked L who stood right next to her. He wasn't as fascinated as Alice was, so he just answered her unenthusiastically.

"This is the hotel."

Alice flattened her lips together in serious thought.

"You know, for somebody who wanted their location to be unknown, this seems like a pretty flashy place to be staying at…" She contemplated.

"That may seem so, but the security here is high quality, so this is actually one of the safest places for our operation to take place."

Alice couldn't argue with that logic, so she just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded inside the enormous building. L followed in suit right after. When they were both inside, Alice gapped at the marble floors and fountain located in the center of the lobby. Greek statues along with lion figures decorated the interior. High class wood works and other flower assortments also lined the lobby. There was so much gold and white that Alice thought she was going to throw up. Even though she grew up in high society, that lobby was too much. It reminded her of one of her aunts who tended to collect gaudy things. Of course, her aunt had a hording problem, so at least she had a medical reason for her excuse. The lobby did not.

L went straight to the front desk to claim his room key. The colorful lobby wasn't new to him, so he wasn't as disgusted with it as Alice was. Though with his relaxed demeanor and raggedy appearance, he stood out too much among the shiny gold. Luckily, he would be locked up in his room most of the time, so it wouldn't be too much of a problem. The hotel would have to do until he felt it necessary to relocate.

Looking back at Alice after he picked up the key, he noticed her green face as she looked at one of the marble Greek statues on the fountain spitting water out of its mouth. She was either thinking about her home life or she just didn't have taste for the rich and gaudy. Either way, he had to get her attention so they could move on.

"Sophie, if you like, we can get one for our house?"

Alice looked to L with wild hysterical eyes. She never looked so petrified in her life other than waking up from that nightmare a night ago.

"I will end this marriage right here and now if you do," She declared, her voice cracking like a young adolescent boy going through puberty. L smiled in return, but then held up the golden key he had received from the front desk so Alice could see it.

"Let's go _darling_, we have our room now."

"I'm terrified to see what it looks like."

"Wonderful, I got us the suite so I'm sure it has a fountain just like this one."

Alice looked like she just passed away while standing up. Her soul slowly drifted apart from her body to try and get away from the marble room of hell.

L ignored the girl's death and grabbed hold of her upper arm to pull her to the elevator. He noted down in his head that that was the second time he's had to pull her along just to get moving. In the back of his mind he enjoyed it, but on the other hand, he found it irritable. He didn't like to waste time when he was on a job, but he did have to give Alice some slack. It was only the second case she was helping him on, and the one they were working on included travel, so he had to be patient with her.

When they made it to the elevator, Alice regained consciousness and looked around the small mirrored room with confusion.

"We sure don't look like we belong here," she deadpanned, looking at both her and L in the mirror. L looked like he just got out of bed, not taking yesterdays jeans off, while Alice wore her normal skinny dark jeans and an old yellow tank top with a black cotton jacket. She would have gone with the leather vest, but she didn't want to make a bad first impression with the French locals. She was regretting that decision after she'd seen the hotel.

"I've already contemplated that, but our appearance won't matter all too much. We have to stay hidden anyway, so not many will even get the chance to see us."

Alice watched the numbers rise, the old fashioned arrow moved from one side to the other. There were a lot of numbers, and the arrow moved slowly. When it passed the 15th floor, Alice started to grow restless.

"What floor is our room on anyway?"

"62nd."

Alice groaned with her hands covering her face. Only L would pick a room that had to be high up. There were only 75 floors, so it was going to take some time to just reach their room.

When the elevator stopped on the 20th floor, the doors opened and just outside the elevator was a bar and restaurant. The lights were dimmed, so Alice guessed it was a restaurant for the romantic. An older couple, most likely in their 60's, stepped onto the elevator and pressed for the 32nd floor. They were both dressed incredibly well, the woman wearing pearls around her neck while the man sported a golden silk tie under a stylish dark navy suit. They had wealth written all over them.

Alice eyed them up and down, moving a little closer to the side of the elevator so she could be further away from them. She knew she shouldn't judged people by how they look, but it was an impulse she just couldn't stop.

"_Excusez-moi, madame, monsieur_," L turned to the elder couple. Alice looked to L with wide eyes. The elder couple looked to L with a bit of the same reaction, but they didn't show it as much as Alice did.

"_Oui_?" The older man replied. Alice was at a loss. They were speaking French, and she recognized very little. She understood what they both said just then, but as the conversation continued, she felt more and more at a loss.

_"Ce restaurant sert-il de bons desserts?"_

_"Oui, il propose une carte des desserts, ils sont délicieux."_ The woman spoke that time, a sweet smile gracing her lips. Her voice was actually a lot more friendlier then Alice would have thought.

_" Merci, j'irai y faire un tour."_ L continued. With all her might, Alice tried to remember her French. The only word she recognized was "thank you". Other than that, she had no idea what they were talking about. What surprised her most though was that L was talking to complete strangers. He wasn't the most social person in the world, but there he was in the elevator chatting away with some of the locals. Alice couldn't believe what she was seeing.

_"Est cette votre petite amie?" _ The older woman then asked L while looking over to Alice. Alice froze a little, not really understanding why she looked to her.

_"Non, c'est ma femme. Nous venons juste de nous marier et ceci est notre__ lune de miel." _ L answered her. Alice quietly cursed at herself again for not paying attention in French class.

_"Comme c'est excitant ! Félicitations!"_ The woman exclaimed, a gleam in her eye. Her husband beside her smiled as well. Alice was slightly terrified. She didn't know why the woman was happy, and she had no idea what L was saying to her to make her that way. Her worst fear however came to be when the woman addressed her. _"Où vous êtes-vous mariés?" _

Alice could only stare at the woman as the woman patently waited for Alice to reply. Sweat started to form on her forehead. Luckily L interrupted before things got more awkward.

_"Elle ne parle pas français. Nous sommes tous les deux originaires__ d'Australie." _

The woman looked back at L and nodded her head.

_"Vous parlez bien français."_ She replied to him. Alice looked back and forth between the two. Her ears tried to pick up on words to see if she could understand any of it. They were both fluent, so when they spoke, it was fast and to the point. There was one word that caught her attention though, and that was the last word L spoke. For some odd reason, Alice knew the French word for Australia, and that was what L had referred to in his last sentence. Why of all things would L talk about Australia?

"_Merci,_" L said to her. Alice was happy to a least understand L was thanking her. For what though, she had no idea. She did catch a break when the elevator dinged, proclaiming itself that it had reached the 32nd floor. The doors opened and the older couple started to get off. The woman turned back once more with a smile and waved.

_"Ravie de vous avoir rencontré." _

_"Tout le plaisir était pour moi." _ L replied to her. Alice waved back with a forced smile. It hurt her face, but she made sure to keep it up until the doors closed once again. Alice exhaled out a breath she didn't know she was harboring. L looked to her with his thumb to his bottom lip. "Are you all right?"

Alice jolted her head to L with a baffled look on her face. L found it incredibly amusing.

"What was that?"

"French,"

"No! What were you guys talking about so freely?"

L kept silent for a couple of seconds, quietly enjoying her frustration. He then pulled his thumb away from his lips and placed both his hands into his pockets.

"Nothing of importance, don't worry about it _chérie_ "

Alice felt a vein pulse on her forehead. She didn't know what L called her, but she wasn't going to let him get away with it. He had been referring to her as darling almost throughout the whole trip after they agreed to be newlyweds. So she was going to make sure she came up with cute names of her own. It was her game after all; L was merely playing along.

"Hey cupcake, you said something about Australia. Please tell me you weren't referring to us."

L paused for a moment, taking in his new nickname.

"I told them we were from Australia. I couldn't very well tell them where we are really from."

"Panda Bear!" She yelled at him. L paused once again, wincing a little on her even more creative nickname. He only guessed they were going to become more elaborate as the day went on. "Now I have to speak in an Australian accent! Do you have any idea how horrible I am with accents? I sound like a walrus chewing tobacco!"

"I don't believe I would ever want to hear that, but don't worry _ma chère_ , I'm sure we won't ever see that couple again."

Alice sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was frustrated with him, but what she really didn't like was the nick names she didn't understand. She was at a disadvantage since all she knew was English, but she was going to make sure she had the upper hand. The English language was very flexible, so there was no end to what nick names she could call him.

By the time they reached their floor, Alice was exhausted. Just following L around was a workout in itself and she started to understand how L got his muscles. The whole traveling thing was basically his way of training. When they got off the elevator, L proceeded down a fancy carpeted hallway, lined with pictures of flowers and landscapes. Alice resentfully followed, avoiding her eyes from the gold trim and fancy wallpaper.

Near the end of the hall, L stopped at a double door with fancy wood carvings on it. Alice gave the door a disgusted look. She knew the room inside was going to be awful.

"Ready?" L asked her. Alice regretfully nodded her head, taking in one last breath to make sure she had enough oxygen so she wouldn't faint when she saw it.

* * *

**_Merci_ Everyone!** I love that you all read my story! It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside (Too weird?).

Here are to my wonderful reviewers. You guys are just too great.

**animeamd: **Thank you! I don't feel it was right for Mello to destroy Nears work. I'm sure he will be punished in the future.

**brattyteenagewerewolf: **Would it be weird if I bowed down to you? Oh who cares, I'm going to do it anyway...*bows down* THANK YOU! In the beginning I talked about not being able to speak French, but I've now realized I don't even know the English language. I went back and looked at my older chapters and you are right. Have you ever had those moments where you just have to slap your forehead it's so stupid? Well that was my moment. Unfortunately I can't change it, but I will make sure to spell it properly in the future. Again, thank you soooo much for telling me. Anyway, I'm glad you like Alice! I hope your friend will realize how amazing Death Note is.**  
**

**Foam Weber:** *Evil Laugh* Wouldn't that be a freaky twist?**  
**

**KITTY LOVS MATT: **Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you like Matt...but that's just a guess. You can tell me if I'm wrong. Thank you! I promise you that Alice will continue to cause mischief and mayhem! **  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: ***takes a sip of water and then spits it out for dramatic effect* I got it right? Holy cow! You know, I'm just as surprised as you are my friend. It might have been a fluke. Or maybe because I have been trying to get into the mindset of L, that he somehow possessed me and solved it...(That doesn't sound crazy right?) he he... o_o**  
**

**S : **Ah, ninja wizard, yes I believe he is, though I would say _AnimeRANDOMNESS_'s story, "Shortcake" does a much better job in explaining Watari's ninja wizardness. You should read it, it's pretty amazing. Anyway, Thank you for reviewing! I promise to write more and more and more and more...etc (Until the end I suppose, unless it never ends...twilight zone...wooh...)**  
**

**InvaderZamG.a.r: **hohohohoho! Now think about her being cuffed to a desk! And you thought the ropes were kinky! *cough* pardon me, sometimes my dirty mind runs wild. I didn't actually mean for it to be dirty, but hey, I think it's more fun to be a little dirty =D Thank you! I love your reviews!

**hairEbunny: **I agree, L would be the type to avoid confrontation. So what did you think of this chapter? I hope I at least got you to smile! Thank you for continually reviewing and reading!

* * *

**Translation:**

**L:** (Excuse me, madam, sir.)

**Older man: **_(_Yes?)

**L: **(Does this restaurant have good desserts?)

**Older woman: **(Yes, they have a menu for them, they are delicious.)

**L: **(Thank you, I shall go there.)

**Older woman: **(Is this your girlfriend?)

**L: **(No, she is my wife. We just got married and now we are on our honeymoon.)

**Older woman: **(How exciting! Congratulations!)

**Older woman: **(Where did you get married?)

**L: **(She cannot speak French. We are both from Australia.)

**Older woman: **(You speak French well.)

**L:** (Thank you)

**Older woman:** (It was nice meeting you.)

**L: **(The pleasure was all mine.)

*****_chérie_ (darling) *_ma chère_ (My dear)


	15. SHOPPING

Hello my lovelies! _Happy Easter_ to those who celebrate!**  
**

This is chapter 15 of _An Ace up my Sleeve!_

It's alright if I call you lovelies, right?

I wouldn't want to be kicked off of FanFiction because of sexual harassment...

Would calling you lovely even be sexual harassment?

Now my brain hurts...

Enjoy the chapter guys.

_(Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. Most likely because I sexually harass people...)_

* * *

**SHOPPING!**

When he opened up those double doors and exposed the suite, Alice was speechless. The suite was enormous, red velvet curtains covering giant windows that were parted and tied with golden ropes and fancy tassels. The windows looked out to Paris, large enough that if you stood next to them you could look down at the streets. Alice wasn't ever going to go near them though, she didn't particularly like heights. The rest of the room was decorated with fancy renaissance furniture to match the hotels theme. The kitchen to the right was opened up to the living room along with the large dining room. A large wooden table with cushioned chairs filled the empty space and the kitchen had marble counters with all the newest appliances. Right off the kitchen was a glass door that led to the medium sized balcony. That was another part of the room Alice would avoid. Off to one of the corners in the living room Alice faced her worst fear. A tiny fountain with an old Greek statue of a woman with no arms, water running down the side like a tiny waterfall.

Her whole face went pale. She couldn't tell if she was still breathing. But she was still alive, which was a good sign.

L didn't think too much about the suite. He was used to the extravagance in which he usually immersed himself in. At first it was a distraction, but his work usually took his mind off it all. Entering the room without any hesitation, L took a look around to see if he could find what he asked for earlier. He was happy to find it in the kitchen, a cart full of French sweets.

Alice couldn't move from her spot at the door. Flashbacks of her aunt kept recurring in her mind and she was petrified.

L started to pile some sweets onto a plate, making sure to grab what he needed to recharge. When he was satisfied with what he wanted, he set his mountain of sweets down on the glass coffee table with the golden lion design and dark wooden legs. Getting comfortable on the cream colored couch, L grabbed hold of a tiny piece of chocolate and cherished the creamy texture in his mouth. It was then that he noticed Alice had not followed him inside. Instead, he found her frozen state staring into the room.

"Ace?" He tried to call out to her. Alice heard him and shook her head to try and rid herself of the horrible memories. When she finally noticed that she was still outside the room, she quickly walked inside, closing the double doors behind her. She then noticed the pile of sweets in front of L. Jealousy sparked through her like an electrical shock and she completely forgot about the room.

"Where did you get all that?"

Without responding to her with words since his mouth was full of chocolate, L pointed to the cart in the kitchen. Alice eyed the cart like a hungry wolf. She didn't eat on the plane due to her sick feeling of being up so high, so she was incredibly hungry. She quickly filled a plate almost as large as L's and sat next to him on the couch. They both ate in silence to regain their energy. After a couple of minutes went by, L found it was time to start work.

"Ace, I believe we should get to work right away."

With food already in her mouth, she replied.

"Don't jou neeth your compucher or somethin?"

"Not to worry," he answered, not really offended by her talking with her mouth full. "Follow me." He then ordered.

Alice got up with him and followed him to one of the two doors off to the left. He pointed to the one on the right to start.

"That is the bedroom," he then pointed t the one on the left. "And this one is the office." He opened the door to show Alice, and she clearly saw an expensive high-tech computer on a large wooden box desk. Surrounding the room was a bunch of bookshelf's that reached the ceiling, all of them full of books. The window behind the desk was covered with curtains, so the room looked dimmed. There was only one other chair in the room, and that was a off to the side next to one of the bookshelf's, most likely the chair to read in.

"Alright," She muttered to herself, taking one last look around. She then maneuvered around L and opened up the bedroom door. The bedroom was huge, with a large king sized bed with draping surrounding it to make it look elegant. Just like the rest of the hotel, the sheets were gold with a floral design that looked almost antique-ish. There were about 5,000 different pillows on top of it and the drapes that did surround the bed were solid, giving those who wanted privacy in the bed what they needed. Besides the very large bed, there was also a fire place in the corner with a couch and a bookshelf. It was a cozy room, though Alice wasn't feeling all too cozy with all the gold and floral patterns. She looked to L with a bit of worry.

"We plan on sleeping together?"

"That would be inappropriate while we are working."

"So you do have a dirty mind!" She pointed with a laugh.

L just ignored her and moved away from the room, heading straight for the office to start his work. Alice smirked and followed him into the office.

"Don't deny it my sweet-tart, it's only natural to feel that way," She harassed.

"I have not denied anything Ace. It would be wise though to start our work, otherwise we will be suck here in Paris forever."

Alice quickly stopped her harassment and sat down in the chair provided for her. L was right, and she had to focus on what her real goal was, and that was to get home. Of course, proving L that she was indeed psychic was important, but not something she craved more. The Wammy house was her true pride and joy.

L moved to his chair in front of the computer and pulled out a folder from one of the desk drawers, most likely set up by one of the many mysterious people that worked for him. Before L could give her the picture inside the folder, a buzzing noise came from inside Alice's jean pocket. Alice jumped at the feeling of her new cell phone going off. Before they left for their trip, L had given her a cell phone so she could communicate with the children back at the house. It was the only way L could get her to stop complaining about missing them. Alice quickly pulled out her phone and looked at the number that was calling her. It was the Wammy house, and the smile she recently dropped had come back with full force. She flipped open the phone with excitement and put it up to her ear. L watched her carefully, waiting to hear who it could be.

"Hello?"

"YOU'RE IN AUSTRALIA?" Mello's loud voice boomed over the receiver. Alice pulled the phone away from her ear to try and gain back her hearing.

"What are you talking about?" She returned back, a little dazed over what Mello had just claimed.

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU IN AUSTRALIA?" He continued, his anger not dying down in the least. First of all, she had no idea how he could know where she could be, and second, she didn't even know why that made him so upset in the first place.

"Mello, calm down for a second." She tried to say. More shouts erupted and then the phone went quiet, scaring Alice. A moment later, Matt was on the phone.

"Ace, I stuck a tracking devise in your suitcase, so you can't deny where you are."

Alice had her mouth open in shock. She couldn't believe what she just heard.

"YOU DID WHAT NOW?" She shouted back into the phone. She then looked to L who quickly looked back down at his work. A sudden realization then hit her like a ton of bricks. "I'm sorry Matt, I'm going to have to call you back some other time, tell the rest of the house that I love them, and I miss them." She droned, not taking her eyes off of L.

"Wait, Ace!" Matt tried to stop her, but she hung up before he could continue.

"L," She calmly started to say, slowing getting up from her chair. L kept his gaze down at his desk, picking up a pencil instead and writing some scribbles onto a piece of paper. "Could you please explain to me why my luggage would be in Australia?"

L slowly looked up to Alice who was now in front of his desk and glaring back down at him. He put the pencil down and started to chew on his thumb a little.

"Because that's where we are from?" He answered with hesitation. Alice snapped back quickly.

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THE TRACKING DEVISE, DIDN'T YOU?"

L had nothing in return to say. Even if he did, Alice didn't let him have time to speak.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU SENT MY LUGGAGE AWAY ON PURPOSE!"

"Now Ace, it was for your own good. I couldn't let them know you were with me."

"You could have just taken the devise out of my suit case! Why did you have to get rid of the whole thing?"

"That would have been too obvious, they both are very intelligent, they probably have the devise tapped so nobody could mess with it."

Alice huffed and threw herself onto his desk in front of him.

"I hate it when you're right." She grumbled into the wood.

L quietly let out a sigh of relief, happy to know the mini war was over. But before he could fully regain his composer, Alice shot up from the desk and slammed her hands down on the wood and papers.

"No, I'm not going to take this! I'm going shopping!" She declared with a determined look on her face. L paused to think over her request. He wanted to get to work right away, but having Alice angry wasn't going to make the case any easier. So he determined that it would have been best to let her go and calm down. He could have started without her anyway.

"As you wish, here, take this." He said, pulling out a gold card and handing it to her. Alice hesitantly took it from him and flipped it back and forth in her hand. It was a credit card with no limit, and Alice could feel the blood rush through her. Her adrenalin was sparked and the shopping monster inside of her roared with all its might. L was oblivious to the girls head rush as he pulled out a little black box from another drawer. "I would also like you to wear this." He declared.

Alice quickly got out of her crazed state for a second to see what L had for her. When she saw what was in the box, she got confused. It was a little ear piece along with a pretty pendant that had stones and flowers on it. L picked up the ear piece and held it up for Alice.

"This ear piece will let you be able to hear what I say, and this pendant will allow you to speak with me."

Alice took the ear piece from him, and stuck it in her ear without question. L was the boss on the case, so she had to listen to him. When L held up the pendant for her, she grabbed that as well and stuck it on her yellow tank top. She was glad to see that it matched her outfit. L put on a head set and pressed some buttons to get the machine running. When it was all set up and ready, L looked to Alice to start the test.

"Can you hear me?"

Alice smiled when she heard his voice through the ear piece.

"All clear my little chocolate panda."

* * *

The streets were crowded, but Alice didn't mind. Her thoughts were already occupied with shopping and how many different pairs of shoes she could fit on a plane. Even the idea of L being able to hear her didn't bother her. She was on a mission and she wasn't going to let anything get in her way.

Alice's first stop ended up being one of the first clothing stores she spotted. It was a store she was familiar with, with its quaint glass display of a cute summer dress along with a summer round flat hat to match on top. She had been to Paris before and the store was one she had been to many times in the past. Without any hesitation, she walked inside ringing a sweet bell to indicate a costumer had entered. The store looked like how she remembered it. It was small, but it was organized well enough to make it seem large. Colorful dresses to the right while shirts and pants were to the left. In the middle, all the little trinkets and shoes were displayed. Alice smiled at the sight. It was her paradise and she never felt more at home, other than being at the Wammy house of course.

"Ace, please don't forget you have a job to do. Work is far more important than shopping around," L spoke from her ear piece. She winced from his voice, not really wanting to hear him speak. She was quick to recover though and smiled, too excited to care what he believed. Without faltering her grin, she whispered back.

"Shove it up your ass boss."

L had nothing to say to that, so Alice immediately walked over to the summer dresses to stake out what looked cute. She pulled one dress out that was a beautiful baby pink with a cute stripped pattern on it.

"_Oh, Cette robe t'ira tres bien!_" A man's voice came from behind her. She turned around quickly in fear and was shocked to see a familiar face. It wasn't long that she had been in Paris and already she was running into people she knew. Behind her was a friend of whom she had known for a long time. It was her extremely gay French friend who happened to be an incredible stylist. Her friend also was just as surprised to see her as well. He gasped when he saw her face; his perfectly manicured hands flew up to his open mouth.

"Alice?" he exhaled.

"Fabron?" She gasped as well. They both then grinned, overjoyed that they had reunited.

"Oh my goodness, Alice! It's been forever darling! How have you been doing?" He squealed, his perfectly gelled styled blonde hair bounced with the rest of him. He was a well groomed man with baby blue eyes and a body that even Alice stopped to look at twice before when she first met him. If he wasn't gay, Alice would have been interested, but she didn't mind being his friend. In fact, he was one of her best friends who she trusted with her life.

"I've missed you too!" She cried out to him, grabbing hold of both his hands and squeezing them. They both then kissed each others cheeks, just like any other French greeting. Alice subtly praised him for having such soft hands.

A sigh erupted from her ear piece along with what sounded like a thump from somebody hitting their head on a desk.

"Ace, did you forget what I said about using your real name?"

Alice frowned at L's remark. It wasn't as if she expected to find a friend of hers there, but she did understand the importance of what L was telling her. Before she could try to fix the problem though, her friend pulled the dress from her hand and examined it more closely.

"This color is just precious; this would bring out your skin color beautifully. You must try it on, I insist!"

Her worries left her in an instant and she went right back into her shopping mode.

"You think I should?"

"Oh. Yes sweetie, now hurry before I strip you here and now."

Alice giggled and grabbed the dress from him. She always loved his sense of humor along with his overbearing personality. She had been living with the socially awkward for over a month, and she was just glad to talk with someone who had more of an outgoing personality then her own. She still loved the Wammy house though, no matter how much work the children needed with their social skills.

"I'm going to admit this is my fault for letting you go," L began, causing Alice to return back to reality as she enclosed herself in the dressing room. "I should have known that you had friends outside of England, so I'm going to let this slide. But please warn me next time who you associate with before we go on a case. I cannot have something like this happen again." L explained, sounding defeated. Alice smiled to herself, happy to hear L was going to let her have some fun.

"I'm sorry, I promise I will comply next time," She responded with sincerity.

"Now about your friend _Fabron_, could you tell me his full name?"

As Alice started to take off her jacket she frowned.

"Why do you need to know?"

"I'm going to do a background check on him."

"Oh no you don't! If you so as dare and try to pry into that man's life, so help me god I will call you the most embarrassing lovers name you will ever hear in your life, and I will do so with an audience so the whole world can hear!"

"Is everything okay in there? Fabron asked with a bit of worry.

"Yes! Everything is fine!" She quickly answered back.

"Too late Ace, I already have his profile on screen."

"Dammit Theo!" She growled under her breath, remembering to not to use L as his name. Even though the two were the only ones communicating with each other, precautions had to be taken anyway.

L didn't respond to her. He was too busy looking over her friends profile to make sure he was cleared of any criminal record. Alice huffed, but then decided it was no use fighting back. Instead, she finished putting on her dress along with the pendant so she wouldn't lose communication with L. When she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. The dress fit perfectly and her cheeks flared pink with joy.

"Don't make me come in there, come on, let me see!" Fabron called out to her. She laughed at his enthusiasm and opened up the door so he could see. He gasped with delight when he saw the pink frills on the bottom sway back and forth. "Oh darling! Your legs go on forever in this dress!"

"Thank you, but what about my chest? That's what guys look at first right? So my chest has to look good,"

"Honey, what I wouldn't give to have a rack like yours. They look wonderful in that dress, trust me."

Alice could feel the tension over her ear piece. She could sense that she was making L feel awkward.

"I don't believe I want to be hearing this," L mumbled to her. Alice smirked, an evil idea then popping into her head.

"Hey Fabron, I almost forgot to tell you the juicy news!" She started; her smirk still present.

"You know I can't resist juicy news. Tell me now."

"I got married!"

Fabron squealed and jumped up and down clapping his hands. Alice followed in suit, having just as much enthusiasm as her exotic friend.

"My dear! When did this happen? Who's the lucky man? Why didn't you invite me to the wedding? You have to show me the dress you wore! You better have worn a ball gown! You know how much a ball gown accentuates your figure! Oh the ring, show me the ring!" He exclaimed, barely breathing in-between his words. Alice cursed under her breath about the ring, letting L know they needed one. She then quickly changed the topic a little so he wouldn't notice.

"I got eloped actually, so nobody even knows about it yet except for you."

"How romantic! Are you running away from home too?"

"Yeah, we are on our honeymoon right now. He's the one who dragged me off to Paris." She chuckled, thinking about the real story in her head.

"Congratulations my dear! I am so happy for you!" He cried, grabbing both her hands and squeezing them. Alice then knew she had to make her move.

"You must meet Theo, I know you will love him."

"Ace…" L warned over her ear piece. Alice ignored him.

"So Theo's his name? That sounds dreamy. Is he handsome? I bet he's handsome."

"Theo is very handsome," Alice grinned, her nose scrunching up to try and hold in her laughter. L was silent on the other end, most likely frozen and unable to move from his chair.

"I knew it!" Fabron cheered, his pearly white teeth flashing inside his perfect smile. "Well I can grantee that he will die when he sees you in that dress." He then eyed her up and down.

"I agree, he probably will die when he sees me." She snorted, thinking to herself that he was probably already dead in his computer chair. But the torture wasn't over yet, she still had much more to dish out. "There is one more thing I need to get to make this honeymoon perfect, and I think you know what I mean." She hinted, raising her eyebrows up and smiling. Fabron laughed with her, understanding exactly what she was hinting at.

"You have come to the right person for that. I can find you something sexy faster than you can throw on a pair of Nina leather heel dress pumps."

"I would never underestimate your skills Fabron,"

"Ace, need I remind you about our objective…" L finally found his voice, knowing that what they were talking about wasn't going to lead to anywhere good. Alice wasn't even giving him any attention, already too deep into her own world of shopping.

"So what are you, a C-cup?" Fabron asked, crossing his arms over his own muscled chest.

"That's' nice of you, but you already know it's a B."

Alice only heard L sigh with defeat. He determined that she wasn't paying attention to him and that there was nothing he could say to stop her.

"I'm only teasing sweetie." Fabron giggled. He then walked over to the lingerie section and started to flip through some dark lacy pieces, pausing once in a while to look more closely at the ones he seemed to like. Alice stayed where she was; knowing he would want to find it all on his own. She would have had no say in the matter anyway, so she let him do his own work. "So why don't you tell me more about your new boy toy?" he spoke up while still continuing on his search.

"Boy toy…?" L cringed, almost making Alice break out laughing. She held it in quickly though by covering her mouth, not wanting to draw more attention to herself.

"Oh, he's one of a kind, that's for sure," Alice tried to say without laughing. She had to hold it in, so she almost sounded like she was forcing her sentence to come together.

"Well what does he do for work? Please tell me he's not mooching off of you,"

"No no! He's actually fairly wealthy."

"Rich man? I never thought you would ever marry into wealth." He chuckled, pulling out a corset with a matching thong. Alice slightly cringed at the sight of the thong.

"Yeah, he's a…"Alice paused, going through multiple job occupations in her head. "He's a doctor," She then concluded.

"How original," L said, sounding a little disappointed.

"A doctor? Have you two played nurse yet?" Fabron asked, pulling out a different corset with panties. He then smiled and handed it over to Alice who took it without question.

"I'm going to have to remember that one, thank you darling." She replied, feeling the lace in-between her fingers as she looked at the corset.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't," L tried to coax. Alice wasn't having any of it.

"Well that bodice should do wonders for you two. With some stilettos, that should come together perfectly." Fabron finished. Alice thanked him repetitively.

After Alice had gotten her lingerie, both she and Fabron continued their shopping, laughing and reminiscing about the old days when they would get together and get into all sorts of trouble. Poor L had to continue to listen to them, once in while throwing in his two cents to try and get Alice to come back. Alice ignored his request and made sure to buy as much as she could hold, her monster inside of her purring with delight. By the time they were finished, Alice ended up with 8 large bags full of clothing. Adding to her dress, Fabron made her wear white lace leggings, dark pink pumps, and some chunky jewelry that sparkled. On top of her head she also sported some large square sunglasses. She was fully glammed out and Fabron was more than delighted to have done it.

"So when am I going to meet your hubby?" He wanted to know, walking with her to the door.

"How about tonight for dinner at our hotel?" Alice offered.

"Ace!" L raised his voice. Alice smiled only got wider. She was finally in control and she wasn't about to let it go to waste.

"Oh, yes of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world." He sang.

"Perfect, see you at seven then!" Alice cheered, writing down the address to the hotel and her room number. She then handed it over to him and waved good-bye to her friend. Fabron waved backed to her as she exited from the store, the bell ringing one last time. L was silent once again, mulling over the newest problem he had to deal with. With a skip in her step, she made her way down the street away from the store so she was far enough away to speak to L. With her arms up holding all her bags, she flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes and swayed her hips to match with the beat of her pumps clicking the ground. She then pressed her pointer finger down onto her tongue and smirked.

"Revenge tastes so sweet," She purred into her wired pendant. L was quiet on the other end.

* * *

Thank you _lovelies_ for reading my story!

_So what does revenge taste like to you?_ To me, it tastes like the first bite of a watermelon. Its crisp and juicy, but if you're not careful, it can get messy. **  
**

I hope to hear some of your answers in the reviews! I know it's a weird question, but after I thought about it for a while, now I just have to know.

Anyway, here's to my wonderful readers who have already sent me reviews!

**Isshi Urahara: **It's okay my loyal minion, you are forgiven. I also have something pretty creepy to tell you. When I read your review, I already had this chapter done, so I was like "Holy shit, she can read minds!" I love the fact that you and I were thinking alike, this only goes to show how wonderful a minion you really are. You already know me so well, I am pleased. I hope this chapter fulfills what you were thinking! And to answer your last question, yes, I do like lord of the rings **=)**

**Foam Weber: **Thank you so much! I would hug you, but I wouldn't want you to think I'm crazy, so instead, I'll just send over L with some cookies and he can give you a hug. I will need him back for the next chapter though, so don't smuggle him for to long. Again, THANK YOU!**  
**

**S-chan: **Thank you! And yes, Alice is just messing with L.

**Axel Girl: **Why thank you ever so much **=D  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** Okay, I know the first two since I've seen them before. The answer to the first one is a shadow, and the second one is a fire. Your last question however seems normal to me. There are 88 keys on a standard piano, but since I'm guessing this is some sort of riddle, your answer will probably be something different.

**animeamd: **I love Near too, but I'm sorry to say it wont be for while until he appears again. But don't worry my friend, he will return, I promise!

**Vertigen : **_Merci! _That helped me so much! I really should have just came to someone who could speak French then just use the internet. A lesson I have learned and will hopefully stick too.

**Evalyd Yamazaki: XD** Yay, your back! Yay, you like Henchman! Yay for not being able to understand other people when they talk in a different language! oh, wait...scratch that last one...

**Alice:** First of all, love the name. Second, to answer your question about the romance, it will be Alice and L getting together. Of course, there will be plenty of drama. Third, your a genius. I love the idea of having some mixed relationships. I do however, have the whole story planned out; well most of it at least. But I am always open for people giving me awesome ideas like yours. I could possibly try to throw some of your idea in, but I might have to tweak it a little. Will just have to wait and see I suppose, I sort of just write on a whim really. Anyway, thank you so much! I am soooo happy you like it. If you ever have anymore ideas, please don't hesitate to tell me! (P.S. I have the whole France thing planned out, but I don't know how long its going to take, so it might be a while until she goes back to the Wammy house. I do promise to stay in touch with Mello and the gang though, so don't worry.)

**DrPepper4Ever :** I'm so happy that I was able to inspire you! You know it's funny, I wrote this story because I got inspired by another story that I read, and when I started to write mine, I didn't think it was going to be all that great either. You just have to try your best! I'm going to cheer for you! Now that I've got you inspired, I feel pretty freaken awesome. Thank you so much!

* * *

Translation

**Fabron: **_Oh, Cette robe t'ira tres bien!_ (Oh, that dress would look fabulous on you!) (You may correct me if I am wrong)


	16. Dinner with Fabron

Hi *waves*

This is chapter 16 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_

How's it going?

Me? I'm wonderful.

Just updated my story and feel like I accomplished the impossible.

Out of all the attempted stories I've tried to make, this one has been the easiest and most fun.

So, I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am!

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: Don't own Death Note but I do sure own my OC Alice)_

* * *

**Dinner with Fabron**

Alice was sitting down in one of the many cushioned chairs displayed about in the lobby. About eight bags were around her from her massive shopping virus she got infected with only a few moments ago. The pink dress that came just to her knees was draped around her, acting as another cushion. She was biting her nails vigorously even though they were recently done up to look pretty. Earlier that day she had confidence pouring out of her. She had so much of it that she even got L involved with having dinner with her friend who was probably the most outgoing person to ever exist. Mixing that with L who was the most unsocialable, she could already sense that a disaster would be the end result. The revenge was sweet, but at that moment, all she could taste was bitterness in her mouth.

When she had reached the hotel earlier, she immediately took off her pendant and ear piece, not wanting to communicate with L out of pure anxiety. She had been sitting in the lobby for what felt like 30 minutes and she had been taking in deep breathes ever since. In her head she was fighting a war. She didn't know whether to be happy about the situation or scared. She didn't even know if she was supposed to feel guilty, and that just made her feel guilty for not knowing whether to feel guilty or not. Her head was starting to hurt as well.

When her phone vibrated in her pocket, she jumped and squeaked at the same time. When her heart found its beat again, she quickly pulled out her phone from her newly purchased designer pink purse and looked to the collar idée with hesitation. There would only be two people who could call her since her phone was so new, and one of those people she didn't want to speak too. Luckily it was the Wammy house that was calling. With a sigh of relief she flipped open her phone and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"_Mo Chara!_" Henchman's voice rang over the receiver.

"Henchman?"

"Yeah _pet_, it's me. I've got some news to tell you. You are never going to believe this!"

"What is it? Is Tinker with you? Tinker didn't try to go against Mello again right? He's not dead is he?"

"Calm down _pet, _everything is okay. Leader is with me right now. I just wanted to tell you about his new invention."

Alice smiled with relief, happy to hear that Mello hadn't killed anybody yet. Without her at the house, that was her worst fear. None of the kids would have protection.

"What did he make this time?" She asked, getting back on topic.

"Leader built a cannon!" Henchman squealed with delight. Alice could even imagine his freckled face light up in different shades of pink.

"A cannon? " She chuckled, a bit confused as to why of all things he built a cannon.

"Yeah, you know, one of those late middle aged ones from the 14th century."

"Wasn't he banned from inventing for a week after his last little number with the roses?"

"Please _pet_, you really think a little ban would stop us?"

Alice teared up a little and started to fan herself with her hand to try and stop herself from crying.

"You have no idea how proud I am of you two," She choked out. She couldn't help but think that her students were growing up so fast.

"I can't wait for you to see it!" Tinkers voice called out in the background.

"I can't wait either; make sure to leave the grand finale for when I get back!" She cried back.

"It wouldn't be grand without you _pet_!" Henchman laughed.

Alice smiled wide in return, her nerves from before slowly leaving her body. When they both said their good-byes to each other, Alice's attitude flipped right back around to her confidence. If the two of them could continue to break the rules a little, then Alice was going to do the same with her head held up high. She would have lost all respect for herself if she would have chickened out. So with one last deep breathe, she got up from the chair and started to march toward the elevator, all eight bags in her arms.

* * *

When Alice entered the suite, the room was dark. The curtains were all closed, and all the lights were turned off. The only exception to that was the moonlight that had recently come out. Then there was still the office that was cracked open with the light on, sending out a steam of light into the living room on the floor. The suite was eerily quiet. She was expecting L to be right in front of her when she entered the room, giving her a stern lecture on proper behavior. But she was alone in front of the double doors, breathing quietly to herself.

She slowly put her bags down off to the side along with her pink pumps. The clicking would have only made more noise than Alice would have wanted. She really didn't want to disturb the angry Panda in the office more then he already was. After she had everything off her that would have caused to much noise, she sucked in some air to make herself look bigger and marched over the office door. She grabbed hold of the knob and held in her breath. Just like she would have with a Band-Aid, she ripped open the door and closed her eyes painfully. Right at that moment, she was expecting L to yell at her, but to her surprise, no such thing had happened. In fact, it was so quiet, Alice had to squint her eyes open a little to see if he was even there. She gasped when she saw that the room was indeed empty. His computer was on and buzzing, but his office chair empty. She looked around the room bewildered.

"L?" She whispered; still not ready to fully use her voice.

"That's Theo Ace, please do not forget,"

She screamed and jumped over to his desk to look over at the door where L's voice came from. L returned with a blank stare, not really phased by the girls scream.

When Alice regained back her normal heart beat, she straightened herself out and crossed her arms.

"Geez Theo,"

"That's better," L replied, stepping further into his office. Alice moved out his way so he could get to his desk. "There is one other problem I wish to discuss." He then announced. Alice's whole body went stiff as a board. "On the credit card you exceeded over 5,000 Euros. I would just like you to remember large amounts such as that can be tracked, so next time, do not try to spend so much money."

Alice mouth stayed wide open, not expecting anything like that. She was fully prepared for a battle, but instead she got a wag of the finger for spending too much money at one time. She was so confused that it almost pained her to ask.

"What about me forcing you to meet my overly flamboyant homosexual friend?"

L didn't respond to her right away, flipping through some paperwork on his desk.

"No need to concern yourself with that Ace, I understand that you were under circumstances in which you had no other options,"

Alice gulped and played with her fingers.

"I have already ordered our dinner and when he arrives, I will be willing to sit with you both and elaborate our already tangled web of lies."

She heard the sternness in his voice at the end, but that didn't scare her as much as the fact that L was willing to do the dinner in the first place. It was completely unprofessional of him and so foreign to Alice that she nearly had another heart attack. That's when Alice saw the small smile on L's lips.

"Oh dear god, you're planning something aren't you?"

"I'm sorry Ace, I have no idea what you're talking about?"

"That smile, I can see it!"

L didn't look up to her, continuing his shuffling of the papers around him, but he did keep up his mischievous smile. Alice became even more frustrated and scared.

"Well, whatever you are planning, stop it! It won't work!" She shouted. She then ran out of the office and slammed the door behind her, causing the walls to shake. L looked up at the door and smiled even wider.

* * *

Alice finished setting the table, placing the last plate in front of one of the chairs. She clapped her hands clean and admired her handy work. The table had a beautiful bouquet of assorted wild flowers in the middle while clear white and blue china was set around it. The food had come a little early so Alice just set the containers on the table as well, ready to be dished out at any moment's notice. It was almost time for Fabron to make his entrance, and Alice wanted to make sure everything looked perfect. She knew Fabron liked fancy things, so it was mostly for his sake that she put all that effort into it in the first place. If she had her way, they would be at a bar, laughing and singing to karaoke.

"That looks nice Ace," L praised. Alice smiled and turned to L, but then frowned when she saw what he was wearing.

"Why didn't you change into something nice?"

"These are my good jeans,"

Alice only rolled her eyes. She had recently changed into a cute little black dress with a red bow. Fabron would have complained if she hadn't, so she put in the extra effort to look nice. As for L, he still wore his same white long sleeved shirt and old faded jeans with no shoes. He was far from being considered a professional doctor, and there was nothing she could have said to change it otherwise. Luckily she had the excuse of the dinner being last minute, so they had no time to get him a good suit.

"Well could you at least do something with your hair?" She pleaded. L played a little with his hair with a bit of confusion.

"What's wrong with my hair?" He honesty questioned. Alice ran a hand through her own hair and sighed.

"Never mind," She groaned. She then heard her phone start to vibrate over on the kitchen counter. L watched as Alice raced over to it and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"This place is huge! I cannot believe you two are staying in this hotel!" Fabron's voice rang out. It was so loud L could even hear it, which he wasn't at all too happy about.

"When did you give him that number?"

Alice shushed L and then smiled back at the receiver.

"Yes, I know. You know which room it is right?"

"Yes darling, I'll be there in 5 minutes,"

"Okay, see you soon," She laughed. They then both kissed each other good-bye and hung up.

"I don't believe I ever agreed to letting you give out that number Ace. That number was specifically for me and the Wammy house," He scolded lightly. The truth was, he wasn't all that surprised.

"Well I don't believe I ever agreed to letting you ship my luggage all the way to Australia, but here we are,"

L went silent after that. There was nothing more he could have said to fight back. She had the better argument.

"Well he's going to be here soon," She then announced, giving him a skeptical look. She noticed L didn't look worried in the least, which only made her worry.

"I almost forgot Ace, I got us these," L spoke up next. Alice looked to see what he had, and in his hand was a small little blue velvet box. Alice's heart slightly skipped a beat, knowing that what was in the box wasn't going to be another pendant with an ear piece. She carefully took it from his hand and petted the velvet surface "I assumed since we were _married,_ then a ring would be necessary." He continued as Alice slowly opened the case. She gasped when she saw the medium sized diamond. Around it were smaller ones decorated around a band of pure white gold twisted together like a knot. She knew the worth of a diamond just by looking at one, and thanks to her royalty upbringing, she knew that diamond was worth a pretty penny.

"Wow, this is gorgeous," She tried to breathe. Her eyes sparkled as much as the diamond.

"I only estimated the amount a doctor would make for a living, and concluded one could afford such a ring,"

"Right...doctor," Alice mumbled, not really paying attention to L. She slipped the ring onto her finger and looked at its perfect fit with amazement. Even though she knew she wasn't going to be able to keep the ring, she still made sure to admire its beauty while she did have it.

"I would also like to remind you that you must refer to me as Theo,"

Alice jumped out of her trance and looked to L with round playful eyes.

"Don't worry sugar, I got it," She smiled. L immediately felt his stomach grown in knots. Her words did not help to ease his doubt.

_Knock…Knock…_The door echoed, causing both L and Alice to go quiet. A smiled spread across Alice's lips and she bounced over to the door with more enthusiasm. L stood his ground next to the table, internally preparing himself for the loud French man. When Alice opened up the door, Fabron posed and smiled incredibly wide to show off his pearly white teeth. Alice noticed he changed into something more formal, just like she predicted. He wore a clean white shirt with a light gray suit jacket with short sleeves. An afghan was around his neck and he had on a nice suit trouser with clean black leather shoes. His hair was perfect and his smooth porcelain skin matched.

"Alice!" he cried out, grabbing her hands and pulling her in for a kiss on the cheek. Alice followed along and did the same.

"Fabron! I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Oh sweetie, everyone usually is. So where is this man of yours?"

Alice was a bit hesitant to answer, but she smiled anyway and pointed over to the slouched over bed head with dark circles around his eyes. When Fabron followed her finger and noticed L, he went quiet, a frown immediately following. Alice gulped and tried to keep her smiled on, looking from Fabron and then back to L. L only stared back at Fabron, not at all phased by the mans silence. In fact, L took at as a good opportunity to introduce himself.

"It's nice to meet you; I am Theo, Alice's husband. I've heard quite a bit about you from her." He said, walking a little closer to them both so Fabron could get a better look at him. Alice was pleased that L used a normal introduction, though she got more worried when Fabron didn't respond. She looked to him and panicked when she still saw that frown. L only waited patiently, still unfazed by the awkward silence.

That's when Alice heard something from Fabron she thought would never come out of his mouth.

"Oh my, so handsome!"

"What?" Alice bluntly asked, noticing a smile that found its way onto Fabron. L was also surprised as well, unsure of how to respond.

"You were right Alice, he's gorgeous. I only wish I had eyelashes that long, and check out that figure! Trust me darling, I know a well worked out body when I see one."

Alice was speechless. She knew Fabron would never lie about somebody's appearance, so that made it even more unbelievable to her. She looked to L to try and see what Fabron had seen, but she only could see the same old L with his messy black hair and awkward stare.

L on the other hand was at a bit of a fork in the road. He had never been complimented in such a way before in his life, especially by a man. So he had no idea how to approach the matter. Luckily his adaptive skills as a trained professional to control any situation clicked in, and he was back in no time under control of his wondering thoughts.

"That's quite nice of you to say, would you like to have dinner now? I'm sure you have more questions to ask Alice and I."

"Yes, of course." Fabron replied, walking over to the table with L, leaving a speechless Alice behind. At that point though, it wasn't Fabron's words that caused her to lose her voice. It was L's and his fast recovery. She was not expecting L to adapt so quickly. L noticed her frozen stare and moved his hand back and forth to try and get her attention.

"Is something the matter _darling_?" He asked. Alice inhaled deeply and put back on a smile as fast as she could.

"Everything is fine pudding," She replied, joining them at the table. Fabron sat on the right while both Alice and L were on the left. As Alice got comfortable in her chair, she eyed L who sat in his usual way of crouching. She sweated a little and looked to Fabron to see what he would think. Surprisingly, Fabron didn't even pay attention to L's unusual way of sitting. Rather, he was eying the rock on Alice's finger like a hungry wolf.

"What a ring!" He gasped, reaching over the table and grabbing her hand to get a better look. Alice cheeks went a little pink and she smiled as genially as she could.

"Thank you," Both L and Alice said at the same time. Alice glanced at L, but then went back to looking at the ring with Fabron.

"So Theo," Fabron let go of her hand, and turned to L. "I need to know. How did you two meet?"

L slightly smiled at the blunt question and grabbed hold of a plate with a piece of cake on it rather than enjoying any of the normal dinner food. Alice noticed the smile and paled.

"Alice was drunk when I met her," He started off. Alice mouth dropped wide open. Fabron did the same, only his carried a smile.

"No!" He gasped, glancing at Alice and then back at L. That's when L's scheme came together in Alice's head. He was going to humiliate her.

"It was on July 21st two summers ago that we both happen to be at a bar, her enjoying a glass of long island Ice tea, while I usually went for a mere glass of water. Since I've entered the medical field, I've seen too many alcohol related injuries or deaths, so I don't drink anymore."

Alice pursed her lips together and glared over at L, letting him continue on with the story. She did want to stop him, but she was in front of Fabron. She just had to hold it in until it was over. Fabron was so engrossed with L's story to even notice Alice's glare, sucking in every detail like a sponge.

"She was playfully chatting with an older gentleman in his 70's. She was incredibly intoxicated though,"

Alice raised her brow and assumed L was referring to Watari in the story. He was not completely lying, so she couldn't have said he was wrong.

"When she started to get a little handsy, that's when I stepped in."

Alice choked while Fabron giggled like a little school girl.

"Oh Alice, you naughty girl you!"

"Now wait a minute," Alice held up her hand to pause the moment.

"Dear, it's alright. You shouldn't have to feel embarrassed over something that you had no control over,"

Alice turned to L with her mouth open, ready to talk back, but was interrupted by Fabron who wanted the story to continue.

"Please continue, it's getting good."

L complied with the man's request and continued on with the story before Alice could say anything more.

"Yes, well once I was able to get her away from the poor man, I believe that's when she fainted,"

"Fainted?" Alice hissed under her breathe. Fabron didn't hear her at all. The story was too much of a distraction for him to even notice.

"Being a doctor, I couldn't very well leave her there unintended, so I took her to my house so she could recover."

"So bold!" Fabron gasped. Alice rolled her eyes.

"After her nights stay, in the morning she woke up with a hangover. It was only a matter of time until she started to throw up in my sink."

"Okay, I apologized for that!" Alice truthfully spout out.

"I cannot believe this!" Fabron exhaled with delight.

"Yeah, neither can I," Alice mumbled to herself.

"So who was it that fell in love first?" Fabron then wanted to know. Alice was quick to answer first before L could make the story any more worse.

"Theo fell for me first."

"Yes, I believe it was when she was hunched over my sink emptying her stomach that a piece of my heart opened up to her," L went along. Alice gave L another glare.

"How romantic," Fabron sighed. Alice then gave her friend a baffled look. "Now you have to tell me how you proposed to her!"

"Ah-oh," Alice cursed, looking to L. L nodded his head and started his new lie.

"The proposal actually took place in Africa,"

"Oh, this is going to be good," Alice uttered.

"I was sent to work at a non-profit mission health center down in Ethiopia. Alice couldn't imagine being without me, so she came along."

"So sweet," Fabron sighed. Alice could only force a smile out to try and act along.

"It was about the start of summer and Alice and I decided to go off on a safari ride. When we reached the elephants, that's when Alice decided she wanted to swim with them."

"Oh my!" Fabron put his hand to his chest.

"Really? Swim with the elephants?"

L only glanced at Alice, but didn't give her any direct attention. Fabron was still unaware of what Alice was saying, which allowed L to continue on with the story without worry.

"I of course warned her not to, but I'm sure you know how stubborn she can be."

Fabron nodded his head to agree. Alice shook her head no with both her lips pressed together tight.

"When she waded into the water, the elephants started to become more aggressive."

Fabron was on the edge of his seat. Alice listened carefully too. Even though she was frustrated with him, she still started to lose some of her steam and get into more of the story. Her lips relaxed and her crease marks on her forehead smoothed out.

"It was up to me to save her, so I leaped from the jeep and pulled her out of the water before one of the elephants grabbed her."

"Then what happened?" Did the elephants chase you?" Fabron bit his nails, a habit he had not been able to give up when things got intense.

"Yeah, did the elephants get us?" Alice questioned with the same enthusiasm. She had completely gotten over it in a matter of seconds and was more interested in L's story. L looked to Alice with a bit of amusement but then looked to Fabron quickly to see if that gave anything away. Luckily Fabron wasn't even aware of Alice last remark. L mentally took note of her friend's lack of observational skills.

"The elephant did charge at us, so we both ran to the jeep and drove away as fast as we could. Of course, since an elephant can run about 25 miles per hour, and our jeep couldn't very well go that fast over the dirt road, it was a close chase with the elephants right on our tail."

Alice was at that point fully into the story, imagining in her mind the elephants and the jeep. Her palms even started to sweat. Fabron looked like he was about to jump out of his seat.

"The only way to lose them was to go off road, so to my best ability, I drove off road and weaved around some of the large umbrella thorns, which are those native African trees giraffes like to feed on."

"Did you lose them? Did you get stranded out in the wilderness?" Fabron squeaked out.

"Yes, I was able to lose them, and no we did not get stranded. I eventually found the road again and we both got back to our rental home safely."

Both Fabron and Alice let out a sigh of relief, both leaning back in their chairs after having moved forward in them to hear L better.

"So then what about the proposal?" Fabron then wondered. Alice was interested as well, looking to L to see what he would say.

"Later that night I had contemplated that after the elephant chase, there wasn't anybody else in the world I would ever want to do that with. So with only a ring made up of a caribou hide, I proposed to her over a candle lit dinner on our porch."

Fabron had both his hands on his lips, tears pricking at his eyes, dying to come out.

"That's so beautiful," he managed to choke out. Alice had her hand on her heart and her other hand on her mouth with almost the same expression. L noticed this and smiled even wider.

"Are you okay _darling_?"

Alice didn't falter her expression, waving her hand that was used to hold her chest in front of her face to try and dry the tears.

"Oh yes, I'm just remembering how perfect it was," She choked out too.

"Do you have any more questions then?" L turned back to Fabron, who put himself back together quickly. He fixed his hair and took in one long breathe to regain his perfect posture.

"Well you must tell me about the wedding then, Alice said you two got eloped."

"The wedding, yes. It was only a month after I proposed to her. When my job had ended at the mission, we both went to America to get married. Of course the best place to elope was Los Vegas, Nevada."

That's when Alice snapped out of her little moment and turned to L with worry. She knew that in Vegas, nothing good was going to come out of it. Determining the loss was going to be greater than the gain, she quickly stood up from her chair and made her chair screech as it got pushed back. Both Fabron and L looked to her with a bit of wonder.

"Alice?" Fabron questioned.

"I just remember sweetie, you have that very important job you need to do." She started. She then looked to Fabron with sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry Fabron, I forgot. We are just going to have to do this dinner some other time."

"But what about Vegas?" Fabron whined, not wanting to leave. That's when L decided it was the right time to intervene.

"I'm terribly sorry, Alice is right though. I do have a very important job I should be doing at the moment. I would be happy to schedule another time with you if you like?"

"No schedule," Alice blurted out. "You need to go right now Fabron. My husband doesn't have that much time left to finish his work. Here you can take your dinner with you," She continued, grabbing a plate and piling some of the food on it. Fabron got up from his chair with surprise. He could clearly see the flustered look on her face and that could only mean that she was getting embarrassed. When she was done piling the food, she put a lid over the full plate and shoved it into Fabron's hands.

"How about you give me your number and you could call me and finish the story," Fabron tried to wager.

"You are not going to get my husband phone number," Alice irked, pushing him toward the door to make him leave faster.

"Oh jealous are you?" Fabron giggled, now understanding her real motive more better. Even though he hadn't got much time with Theo, he could clearly see the connection they both had. He knew that there wasn't a man alive out there who could have made her so flustered as he just did in just a matter of minutes. The drama was almost to good to be true.

"Yes, terribly," Alice droned, opening the double doors for him.

"Well it was nice meeting you Theo, just ask Alice for my number and give me a call," He winked as he was pushed out the room, enjoying every minute of her anxious behavior.

"It was so much fun having you here Fabron. Love you!" Alice smiled. As Fabron was about to say good-bye, Alice shut the door on him. Even though she had rushed him out the room, she knew he wasn't going to be offended. Fabron loved drama, so she knew that he was only enjoying himself even more outside the room.

When the room resumed to being quiet again and they both knew he was gone, L got up from his chair and walked over to the middle of the entry way in front of Alice. Alice turned around and faced her back to the door. She looked at L and then crossed her arms and frowned while looking away. She knew exactly what he was thinking and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her defeated by her own game.

"Was there anybody else you wanted to invite over?" L asked, eying Alice critically. Alice continued looking off to the side with a frown and huffed.

"No," She pouted, swaying her body a little like young child.

"Good, then let's get to work then, shall we?" He smiled, making his way over to his office. Even though it had taken him longer then he had expected, he had finally won the battle. It had to have been his most rewarding victory yet. When Alice saw him enter the office and shut the door behind him, she moved her hand in front of her and looked down at the diamond ring. Even though she should have been furious at L for making her cause a scene, a subtle smile still replaced her frown, her mind unable to control her drifting thoughts about Africa.

* * *

Sooooooo, how was it guys? Is L awesome or what? I mean come on, how romantic would it be to receive a ring from him made out of the pelt of a caribou? _(Too weird again?)_

Here are to the reviewers!

**Isshi Urahara: **I don't think I've ever had Mashi before, but it sounds amazing. I'll have to try it some time. I also agree that we would make a perfect team. I promise to come to you for help if I ever get stuck, or think of an idea that I'm not sure of. **=D  
**

**animeamd: **I know what you mean, I miss Near too and I'm the one writing the story. It's going to be a bit longer though, so hold in there. Thank you for continually reading and reviewing!

**DrPepper4Ever: **He he~ Thank you so much **XD **I'll try to post more often!**  
**

**Saber Amane: **_*curtseys*_ Thank you, Thank you.

**Its Me Not You:** Why yes, he is going to see Fabon. **=)** Thank you so much for reviewing! Glad I could make you laugh and blush! Now I feel more accomplished as an amateur writer.

**Foam Weber:** Oh no worries, L is good at getting away undetected. He made it back just in time! Though he seems to be missing his shirt, so I suggest asking your friends about that.

**Frogata:** HA HA! Now all I can think about is Fabron dressing L up! Oh, you can keep her luggage, shes not going to be able to get it back. I hope you like skinny jeans!

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** No way! Even the piano one? That wasn't even a riddle? Okay, well I think I've seen this one before too. Wasn't the woman just tacking a picture of her husband and then developing it in a red room, hanging it up to let the picture dry?**  
**

**hairEbunny: =D **I'm glad you liked it. Making up cute nick names for L is actually really fun!**  
**

**Alice : **HA HA HA HA HA, hold on, HA HA HA, can't breathe, HA HA HA! Ha ha~ okay, I think I'm good. First of all, you don't ever have to apologize for writing to much in a review. I absolutely love when I have long reviews. It only means that the reader really enjoys the story and takes more care into what they want to say to the author. You could write a novel for all I care, I would still love it! Second, your ideas seem to be getting even better. I don't think I will be able to use the "her getting kidnapped" idea while shes in France, but I do have something that's coming up that's sort of like that. As for that ex-boyfriend idea, I absolutely love it! Again, I can't use it for when they are in France, but would you mind if I used it in the future? When I was reading your second review, you have no idea how hard I laughed. The relationship idea between Matt and Mello sounds amazing, but I actually promised myself I wouldn't put yaoi in this story unless they were characters I made up. I still love the idea though and I don't think I will ever stop laughing at the idea of Alice being in her room and her hearing Matt and Mello. I am always happy to respond to you and I hope to hear from you again!

**burry and bunny:**This may be a stupid question to ask, but when you say _canon_, do you mean the actually story line? I feel like I should know all this lingo on this site, but I don't... okay anyway**, **thank you so much for choosing to read it and I'm so glad you like Alice! *Thumbs up* **=D**

**Axel Girl: **I would totally just mixed the two ice creams together and eat them. Sprinkles? *nods head* I wouldn't have it any other way.**  
**


	17. Serial Killer Investigation Part 1

Welcome to Chapter 17 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_

100 REVIEWS! *Jumps around and squeals*

Oh, that was fun...

THANK YOU EVERYONE, I think I'm tearing up, I'm going to cry.

Enjoy the chapter guys, you all deserve it! _(Sorry it's a bit short)_

_(Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, but who cares. I've gotten 100 reviews!)_

* * *

**Serial Killer Investigation Part 1**

Alice sat down quietly in the armchair provided for her in the office while L sat down at his desk. The armchair was warm and soft, the fabric felt light and malleable. It was getting late and they only had their artificial lights to rely on. Alice was still wearing her black dress, but she had been so used to living under her families watch that she trained her body well enough to endure long periods of time where she had to wear a dress. Now it was like a second skin for her, though more often than not she preferred jeans and T-shirt.

L flipped through some of the scattered paperwork on his desk. Alice never imagined L was the unorganized type. She always assumed he would have been a neat freak, but really he was just as messy as she was. When L finally found the original folder that had the photo, he held it up for Alice. Alice groaned from having to get up from her chair, but she grabbed the folder none the less and sat back down, the chair catching her like a cloud.

"Raymond F. Charles, a powerful man in the shipping business. He is but one of our suspects. Recently he has gone missing," L explained, getting right into the case. Alice pulled out the photo and looked down at the picture. The man looked so ordinary that Alice would have never guessed he would have been a killer. With his short styled brown hair and plump round face, Alice only saw innocence. Even his brown eyes looked warm and inviting.

"He doesn't look like a killer," She stated, not taking her eyes off the photo.

"Just by the man's appearance, you should not assume such accusations. Killers don't all look alike."

Alice only looked to L for second before she went back to the photo. L was right of course, so she didn't press it any further. Instead, she just went straight to work to try and see if she could feel anything from the picture. She had her doubts though, not really sure if anything was going to happen. She gave the photo her full attention, eying all the mans features as if she were trying to follow a map. She started on the top of his head and focused on every strand of hair. Going down from there, she followed it to his somewhat wrinkled forehead and all the way down to his red happy nose. That's when it hit her hard. She covered her nose and mouth with her own hand and started to cough violently, a pain ravaging her throat out of thin air.

"Ace?" L panicked a little, sitting up more straight in his chair. Alice waved him off to show him that she was fine. She gasped and coughed only a few more times just to get rid of the unpleasant feeling in her throat. When her coughing fit had ended and she could breathe once more, she looked up to L with a bit of hesitation. She was unsure of how to tell him her gut feeling. She bit her bottom lip and stood up to set the picture back onto his desk slowly. L watched her carefully and waited patiently for her. With one last exhale, she started.

"He's dead,"

"Dead?" L questioned, looking down at the photo as well. "Are you sure?"

"I'm certain. I could even tell you how he died, that's how clear it was."

"Then please elaborate."

"He was drowned in cold water, most likely in a river."

"And you are sure about this?" L asked again just to get clarification. Alice didn't answer right away but when she did, she said it with complete confidence.

"Yes."

"Alright, excuse me one moment then," L stated, pulling out his phone. He then dialed a few numbers and put the receiver to his ear, holding the phone with only two fingers. Alice waited patiently while L made his phone call. Her heart racing a little over the fact that L was taking her words seriously. When L started to speak, Alice made sure to listen carefully, not taking her eyes off him for a second.

"I have a lead in which you will need to send out your men. I suggest checking the Seine or Oise Rivers for the remains of Raymond F. Charles."

The room then went quiet as L listened to the man's reply on the other end. Alice could only hear jumbled up words faintly, so she didn't know what he was saying.

"Instead of questioning my work ethic, I suggest you do as I say, if you want to have this killer caught." L replied to the man on the phone. Alice was a bit taken aback by his powerful words. When L hung up his phone and placed it back in his pocket, he went straight back to his work, flipping through more papers on his desk.

"What was that about?" Alice couldn't help asking.

L ignored her and pulled out yet another photo from somewhere on his desk and held it out to Alice.

"If you're correct about Mr. Charles, then could you tell me if this man is dead as well? His name is Marc Amour Durand."

Alice didn't reach for the photo right away, not wanting to continue on until L explained himself, but L stayed silent. He wasn't going to elaborate anything further, so Alice just sucked it up and grabbed the photo from his hand. When she sank back into her chair, she examined the photo quietly. The new photo had a man much skinner then the first. His hair was receding around his forehead and the crows feet around his eyes suggested that he was probably in his early 40's. Getting more comfortable in her chair, Alice concentrated just like she had before, starting from his receding hair line. She made sure to take in every detail, from the freckles on his nose to the one dimple on his left cheek. She started to worry when nothing was coming to her.

"I don't sense anything…" She mumbled with frustration, not liking the idea that she was failing. L observed her more carefully, watching her every movement with a critical eye.

"Then why are you are touching the back of your head?" He wondered, watching her hand pet the lower portion just above her neck. Alice removed her hand as if it got burnt. She looked at it with wonder and then looked to L with utter disbelief.

"I don't know…" She gapped, turning her hand back and forth to get a better look at it. She wasn't lying in the least. She had thought her hand was resting on her lap the whole time.

L didn't pursue the thought any longer. He was already pleased with what she had given him, so instead of giving her the next task, he pulled his thumb to his bottom lip and offered Alice a nights rest.

"You are more than welcome to go to sleep now if you wish. That is all I'll need from you for now."

Alice frowned and looked up to L with a bit of frustration.

"That's it? The work you have been trying to get me to do for the past 7 hours was that?"

"Yes." L bluntly responded, not picking up on the annoyance in her voice.

"Well that's not fair! Let me look at this photo again, maybe I missed something. I could even look at the victim's photo too!" Alice complained. L shook his head to disagree with her.

"That will be unnecessary. I would like to see if Mr. Charles's remains will be found, but in the mean time, I need to continue this search on my own. I'm afraid you are just going to have to wait."

"But!"

"If you insist on helping me, then may I suggest you order some more cake? It seems we have recently run out and I fear that without it, the case will be at a standstill."

"I could make you one!" Alice's enthusiasm returned.

"Please don't," L subtly smiled, thinking back to the moment when he first saw her.

"Fine," She huffed in return, unaware of L's amused expression. "I'll order your silly cake."

"Thank you, you will find the phone located in the kitchen. Next to it will be the number for room service. You may order anything you like if you are hungry." L explained, looking away from her and back to his work. He went straight to his computer and started to type furiously, the keys clicking in rhythm with him. Alice only gave him one last board look before exiting the room.

* * *

When Alice found the phone on the kitchen counter, she looked next to it and saw the number she needed. She picked up the handset and started to dial the numbers. Before she could finish though, her cell phone in her pocket started to ring. Thinking it was L calling to tell her what kind of cake he wanted, Alice answered her phone unenthusiastically.

"Now what?"

"Who stuck a pole up your ass?" Mello's voice responded. Alice jumped at the sound of his voice, not even thinking that it could have been the children at the Wammy House. Quickly recovering, she tried again with a more upbeat attitude.

"Mello! It's so good to hear your voice!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He panicked on the other end, not used to Alice spouting out kindness.

"Everything is wonderful now that you've called!" She continued, genially happy to hear from her friend, but also enjoying the fact that she was making him feel uncomfortable.

"You crazy bitch! What are you planning?" Mello shouted, causing Alice to snicker. The line then went quiet with the exception of Mello's shouting in the background. When at last Mello's voice could no longer be heard, a new speaker took control of the phone and Alice was truly surprised to hear him on the other end.

"Ace, I take it your trip is going well?" Near spoke calmly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Alice's heart skipped a beat and her aura turned bright pink with delight.

"Near!" she squeaked out. Her imaginary tail waged back and forth repetitively.

"I'm going to take that as a no since you seem far too excited to be hearing from us. Is something the matter?"

Alice gapped at Nears power at deduction just by listening to her voice. Even though she knew he was smart, that was a part of him that she never believed he had. As much as she wanted to tell him though about L, she knew better then to give away her position. So instead she just used her other excuse.

"I just really miss all of you guys," She smiled warmly, even though she knew nobody could see her.

"Awe, we miss you too babe." Matt's voice replied to her. Alice frowned at her phone, losing her sensitive moment with Near.

"Matt! What did you do to Near?" She hissed, not wanting her moment to end with the albino. Matt only laughed at her in return.

"Calm down princess, he's safe with me. I made sure to kick Mello out of my room so he wouldn't strangle him."

"Wow, I never thought you would turn on Mello."

"Instead of talking about my own loyalty, I believe we should be talking about you."

"Why me? We don't have to talk about me. Why don't we talk about….uh…that one video game with those guns and the explosions?" She tried to divert. It was a wasted effort on her part since Matt wasn't going to be fooled.

"There are millions of games like those. There is no use trying to avoid it Ace, why don't you tell us where you really are."

Alice immediately put up a defense, hoping in her mind that she could out wit the genius on the other line.

"Absolutely not."

"Come on Ace, everyone at the house already knows you're with L, so why don't you just tell us where you are."

Alice took in air so quickly that she almost started to choke. Luckily she was able to regain her composer in seconds before Matt could even notice.

"I don't know what you are talking about." She licked her cracked lips. She could feel her mouth was growing drier.

"There's no hiding it Ace, the fact that both you and L had to leave at the same time says it all. So how are you two doing anyway? Are getting eloped or something?"

Alice had nothing to say in return, knowing that whatever she said would have had to been a lie. The saddest part was that she couldn't even lie about the marriage part. Matt noticed this silence and took it as her answer.

"Wait, are you serious? You two got married?" He gasped.

"WHAT?" Mello's thunderous voice rang in the background. Not even a second later, the sound of a door braking open came next and the phone sounded as if it hit the floor, crackling along the way violently. When the phone finally stopped its static rumbling, Mello's voice returned with all its might.

"YOU TWO CAN'T GET MARRIED!"

Alice pursed her lips together in offense. She was aware of the conversations intent, but unconsciously went along with it without even thinking of the consequences.

"Why not?" She bluntly asked with her brows burrowed together and her cheeks slightly extended. She never did like being told what she couldn't do. Mello scoffed at her in return, floored by the idea of the two getting together.

"L is the greatest detective in the world, and you're you," He replied as if being her was a bad thing. Instead of just being offended by Mello's words, Alice took it in another direction. With a devilish smiled she replied.

"Jealous Mello? I'm sorry to have taken your precious boyfriend from you, but that's life kid. You're too young for him anyway."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHEN I FIND YOU, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Alice laughed hysterically, pulling the phone away from her ear because she couldn't hold it up and laugh at the same time. She even had to hold onto her stomach because her laughing was so painfully hilarious. When she finally found the strength to put the phone back to her ear she heard Mello screaming in the background while Matt was taking the phone away from him.

"Hey babe," Matt finally gained control. "We are going to have to finish this later, why don't you just tell L hi from all of us at the Wammy house." And a second later the line went dead, leaving Alice laughing to herself.

* * *

When Alice had left the room, L let his whole body relax, air escaping his lips slowly. After he knew that he was alone, he pulled back out his phone that he used not too long ago, and put it to his ear.

"I appreciate your help Watari, I will call you later tonight to go over out next plan." He spoke into the receiver.

"Your acting has improved L. I will be ready for your call." Watari answered L in return, sounding a bit more uplifted than usual; most likely from the fact that he was finally the one to trick Alice.

"Thank you, goodbye," L disconnected, hanging up just like always before the other person could say their goodbyes. When he had put his phone back into his pocket, he looked to the door Alice had recently left through. He could subtly hear her voice squeaking with excitement, most likely talking to the children at the Wammy house. He determined this only just by the sound of her voice. He very well knew such excitement would have never been used to order room service.

Just in the far corners of his mind he felt guilty for lying to her about the man in the photo. He already knew about Mr. Charles's death when they just arrived in France. Even though he left her unaware of this, he was more than satisfied with the results she put forth. When she had said that he had drown in a river, it almost took all of his will power to not get up from his chair and look closer into her eyes to see how they worked. It was possibly the third time that she had predictions that were true. There was still going to be more evidence that L was going to need, but as it stood at the moment, it was all in favor to her. He was vaguely starting to believe her, which surprised even himself.

Shaking his head, L ridden himself from his useless thoughts. He had to get back to his work, and he couldn't have Alice clouding his mind. Grabbing the photo of the second man that she had tried to get something out of, L reached around to the back of his head and touched the back of it. Carefully he mimicked her movements, caressing the portion of his head that was just above his neck. When he was sure he copied her every move, he grabbed hold of a sharpie and wrote across the photo in big bold letters. He wrote down "Deceased; Shot in the back of the Head". He then placed the photo on top of the other four victims, which included Raymond F. Charles.

Even though he was somewhat relying on Alice's behavior as a sign of her psychic gift, he was still more than confidant in his accusation. Even without the girl's prediction, and without the body itself, he had a very good chance of being correct. He was L after all.

* * *

When Alice finally put away her cell phone, she immediately went back to what she was supposed to do. Grabbing hold of the hotels land-line, she dialed the necessary numbers and waited as the phone rang on the other line.

"Yes, how may I help you?" A sweet sounding woman's voice picked up. Alice sighed with relief when she heard that she spoke in English.

"I would like to order room service." Alice answered her politely.

"Of course, what would you like?"

"What kind of cakes do you have?"

"We have over 50 different choices to choose from, would you like me to list some of them for you?"

Alice laughed to herself, impressed by the amount of cakes they had. No normal hotel would have had service like that.

"No thank you, how about you just bring up all of them." She then shrugged. The nice woman on the other end laughed a little, thinking it was a joke.

"Well how about you try our cheesecake? That always seems to be a favorite among our guests." She offered.

"Great, I'll make sure to try it with all the rest of them." Alice grinned wildly. The woman on the other end went quiet.

"Are you sure Miss?" The girl finally found her voice.

"Of course I am."

"Uh…a..alright, your order will be there soon, um…is there anything else you would like?" She stuttered.

"Do you guys have candy?" Alice wondered, making the girl go pale on the other end.

"uh, yes..w..we do."

"Great, I'll be taking some of that too." Alice leaned against the counter.

"What kind would you like?" The woman on the other line was hesitant to ask.

"Everything of course, and could you put all the candy into buckets? I don't want those silly small portions."

"I'm sorry miss, did you say buckets?"

"Yes," Alice answered calmly as if the conversation was normal. The sound of her phone dropping came next. Alice smiled.

"I'm terribly sorry, I accidentally drop the phone. I will make sure to deliver that all to you." The woman finally found herself again.

"Thank you ever so much." Alice laughed.

"Thank you Miss for choosing our room service." The woman laughed too, only hers seemed far more forced. When the line went dead, that's when Alice put back down the handset. Smirking to herself, Alice looked over to the office door with a twinkle in her eye.

* * *

To my wonderfully awesome reviewers who make me smile:_ I've been getting so many! I'm so happy!_

Since I've been getting so many, I can't really reply to everyone without having them be longer then my actual story, so I will reply to you, but only if you have any questions or want to have some fun. Again, Thank you everyone who has been reviewing!_  
_

**Axel Girl, ****PandasWithDeathNotes, ****animeamd, ****Its Me Not You, Mango To The Max, and Blue Fire Lily**. (Thank you so much everyone!)**  
**

**Frogata: **I don't think your suggestion is crap, in fact, I love it! Can I use it for later? I'm sorry about not dressing up L, but I can promise you that there will be some dressing up with Fabron later. I can't give the details, but I think you'll find it to be just as good =D (I hope). YAY 100 REVIEWS!**  
**

**DrPepper4Ever: **Grammar errors for me happen more than they should. Even when I read through my story like 4 times to make sure its okay, there's always something. I've just learned to accept that about myself (I'm a horrible editor). Anyway, moving on to your awesome questions! When I first started thinking about Alice I don't think I was using anyone I knew as a reference. She was mostly just somebody I wanted to be in real life. But now that I think about it more, she might be based off of an awesome friend of mine whom I've know since second grade. As for her abilities, I will be bringing them out more. I know it was a slow start for it to be introduced, but I wanted the readers to get to know her better first and her relationship with the Wammy house. Thank you for reading and reviewing! Are authors allowed to tell their reviewers they love them, or would that be just creepy? **  
**

**Foam Weber: **I love quilts! OMG, a quilt made from L's cloths! Brilliant! Screw the quilt I'm making with silly old fabric, I'm going to steal his cloths! Thank you for the idea!**  
**

**Isshi Urahara: **My most wonderful minion, thank you so much for catching my most incredibly embarrassing mistake (not sarcasm, I promise). I live on the west coast, I totally should have known that. I think I was probably thinking about Los Angeles or something when I wrote that. I also understand that I have horrible editorializing skills. I read over my chapters so many times just to make sure I don't make any mistakes, but in the end there is always something there. I've just learned to accept that about myself and move on. Again, Thank you! ~Forever yours to follow, Wisty. P.S. How's California? Is the weather nice this time of year?

**Alice:** I would never ever make fun of you unless you wanted me to (Which would be weird, but I am an accepting person and would never judge you). Thank you so much! I had to ask you since I have moral standers about using other peoples ideas. I would never want to plagiarize or steal any ideas from anybody. So thank you so much for letting me use it! I can't wait to hear about any more ideas you have. I am a patient person, so don't feel bad if you don't have any yet. I'm just so happy that you read my story in the first place. Giving me more ideas is like the cherry on top!

**brattyteenagewerewolf: **I did not know that, Thank you **=D** Now I have learned something knew, YAY! I suppose I just used caribou because I liked saying it out loud. I know, I'm weird. Thank you for reading my story!

**burry and bunny: **Cookie! *nibble* tastes as good as I would have imagined it. THANK YOU!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Is this a trick question? I used both of those in my story, though you might have different answers for them. Well the longest word would be _Smiles_, because there's a mile between the S's. The moon is worth one dollar because it has four quarters. I like these riddles you are giving me though. It actually helps me get into the role of L better =D**  
**

**Stuck in a maze-ing: **I don't mind if you don't write a lot, I'm just so glad you decided to write to me at all. I will have a great day now that I know I made somebody happy. **=) **(Was that too cheesy, or did I just ruin the moment by writing this little extra part...?)**  
**


	18. Serial Killer Investigation Part 2

Hi readers!

This is chapter 18 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_

Enjoy the chapter people!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**Serial Killer Investigation Part 2**

Alice slowly aroused from her slumber, her body shivering as she stretched. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see the sun shine through the curtains, but to her surprise, everything was pitch black. Her fear only lasted a mere second when she realized her head was under the covers. Laughing at herself, she moved her hands up to try and grab the top of the covers to get herself out. When she couldn't find the edge, she frowned. Grabbing a handful of the covers that were in front of her face, she tugged on them hard. To her dismay, they didn't budge, almost as if they were caught on something. She groaned to herself in frustration. That's when she felt a slight breeze on her feet. Wiggling her toes, she felt thin air. There was also something incredibly soft supporting her feet. Getting up on one elbow and using her other arm to lift the covers in front of her, she looked down to her feet. She smiled when she noticed the sliver of light just beyond her legs. She laughed at herself again, realizing she was facing in the complete wrong direction. Quickly, she rushed out of the undercover cave and emerged into the bright morning light.

Jumping out of bed, she stretch one last time and looked around the room with a smile. The gaudiness of it all had become less of an irritation for her. She looked down at herself and realized she was still in her cloths from yesterday. She hadn't even realized she had been sleeping in her little black dress the whole night. Shrugging it off, she simply changed into something more comfortable. She chose to wear light faded skinny blue jeans with a pastel pink blouse. Smoothing out the wrinkles, Alice made sure to look presentable before leaving the room.

As she made it out into the living room, she froze right in her tracks. Her eyes couldn't believe what they had seen. She had to stop and stare at the incredible amount of desserts spread around the room. It was almost as if Willy Wonka himself exploded. Large chocolate cakes were lined up on the counter while various other small slices were scattered across the dining room table. Boxes of chocolates were opened and strewed about around the coffee table and couches. Candies such as gummy bears and skittles were also scattered about, but mostly on the floor. All the candy led to the office. That's when Alice knew who the culprit was. Rolling up her sleeves, she marched over to the office door and threw it open.

"Theo, explain yourself!" She barged in, trying to sound intimidating. She knew L wasn't going to be the one to clean up the mess. He was going to make her do it, and she wasn't about to give in that easily.

"Ace, good morning," L greeted her from his messy desk. Alice noticed that the sweets explosion had made it all around the office as well. A half eaten cake was sitting next to L while different assorted candies were scattered across the floor. Even some empty plates with crumbs were piled up next to the door.

"Look at this mess! What did you do?" She gapped, eying every piece of candy around her feet.

"I suppose you don't remember what happened last night?" L stuck his thumb to his bottom lip. Alice looked to L in question.

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying with all her might to remember. She found herself struggling with the memory though. The last thing she remembered was talking with Mello, Matt, and Near. Her heart started to beat faster.

"It was quite a night Ace," L began, a subtle smile escaping unconsciously.

***Begin***

_Alice slammed open the office door. In her hand was piece of cheesecake with strawberry toppings. L stared at the cake as it if were a god. _

"_Your cake my good sir," Alice said in a very manly voice to sound like a butler. She was quite impressed with herself when she heard how convincing she sounded. As she set the plate down in front of L, L didn't waste any time in digging in. He was in sugar bliss in a matter of seconds. Alice only smiled to herself with egotistic pride. _

"_That isn't all there is, follow me," Alice snickered, running back over to the door with excitement. _

_L took another bite of his cheesecake and watched as Alice made her way out of the room, giggling the entire way. He knew that her subtle laugh wasn't a good sign, but she did bring him unquestionably delicious cheesecake with his favorite topping. So with a sigh on his part, he slowly made his way off his chair and over to the door. _

"_Hurry your genius butt up!" Alice shouted from the other room. L was hesitant at first, but then slowly managed to open the door to see what she had for him. When he finally saw it all together, his jaw literally dropped, and there wasn't much in the world that could do that. Right in front of him were about 50 different full sized cakes with the exceptional one slice. Next to those cakes were a few boxes of chocolates, mostly those ones found in the shape of a heart. L determined they must have been left over from Valentines Day or some other holiday. What really struck him as amazing though were the buckets, and they were literally buckets, of candies. Candies such as skittles, gummy bears, dots, MnM's, suckers, and so on. _

_L couldn't even find the words to express his emotions, if he could even feel any at the time. His first reaction was to eat it all, but at the same time the logical part of him knew that the cost of such delicious expense was going to be large. Unfortunately the first thing he had to say was the breaking point for Alice's lasting behavior for the rest of the night. _

"_How much did this all total to Ace?"_

_Alice was next to have her jaw drop, only it was clearly out of disappointment. She had spent the last 10 minutes trying to collect the best possible snacks for the Panda detective, and he had the nerve to question it? She was devastated. _

"_I thought you would like it?" She pouted angrily. _

"_Yes, I do find this all to be wonderful, but did you forget about the scorning I gave you before on spending too much money at one time?" _

_Alice sucked in her own breath, just then remembering it all. She rubbed the back of her head and looked away from him in shame. _

"_Sorry, I forgot," She mumbled. Alice waited for L to respond, but didn't hear him at all. Looking back over to L, she gasped when she saw him on top of the coffee table crouching over one of the buckets of suckers, sifting through it like a hungry animal. "Hey! Listen when somebody is apologizing to you from the bottom of their hearts!" She shouted at him. _

"_That apology sounded more like it came from your colon rather than your heart." L replied to her, picking up a sucker and unwrapping in front of his eyes so he could observe it up more closely. _

"_Colon?" Alice question, not sure about what he was referring to. Anatomy was never a strong point for her. Of course, neither was any other subject at school. _

"_The large intestine, I was merely stating your apology was full of…"_

"_HEY!" Alice stopped him before he could finish. _

_L only smiled in return. _

_Alice crossed her arms tightly and huffed. Eying a piece of cake to her right, she grabbed hold of it and started to it eat instead of using her anger on L. She wasn't usually an emotional eater, but there was only so much a girl could take. She wasn't expecting L to jump into her arms and thank her for it all, but at least he could have kissed her feet. That would have made her happy. Alice shook her head quickly to get rid of such ridiculous thoughts. She knew L enough to know that would never happen. Looking back at L while taking another bite of her cake, she smiled when she saw him over yet another bucket, sifting through the skittles to find the red ones while three suckers stuck out of his mouth. _

***Pause***

"So I ordered all of this?" Alice frowned, checking around her feet at all the candy. She had noticed she had broken a few skittles when she walked in the room, leaving a trail of crumbs under her feet.

"That's correct," L answered, taking a bite of the already half eaten cake. He wasn't as disturbed about the mess as Alice was, mainly because he was so used to messes such as those. Of course, not usually as large as that one, but he didn't mind the candy coated floor or the cakes. In fact, it left a nice scent in the room.

"Well how did this mess happen?" Alice held her head to try and keep herself from falling over. It was all so random and overwhelming. In the back of her mind though she had a bad feeling it was because of her.

"Well…" L continued.

***Unpause***

_L squatted in front of the coffee table, his thumb to his bottom lip. He was thinking to himself at a speed that would make even a computer cry. Clutching his left knee, he concentrated hard are a variety of words. That's when he finally came to a word he was 100% confident with. _

"_Banana,"_

_Alice, who was on the opposite side of the coffee table sitting on the floor, crashed to the ground in defeat. _

"_Damnit! That's the 20__th__ time you gotten it right! Are you cheating? All you ever do is ask one question!" Alice bounced right back up. _

"_I don't cheat unless it's necessary," L stated, pulling the card from his forehead that had the word banana written on it. Both L and Alice had been playing Hedbanz for the past 10 minutes, each time L was the winner. It was a game where one had to put a card to their forehead and try to guess what the card had written on it. _

***Pause***

"Hold up, I got you to play Hedbanz?" Alice interrupted the story.

"I hate to admit this, but your power of persuasion is…how should I put it…abrasive." L responded to her, not at all offended by her interruption.

"Oh hun, that's a nice way of putting it, but I forced you didn't I?" Alice cringed to herself. She could already feel the guilt build up inside her.

"You threatened to beat all the cakes up with a hammer."

"Yeah, that sounds like something I would say, sorry about that." Alice rubbed the back of her head.

"It's quite alright, I found the game to be unknowingly entertaining. I'm sure I would love to try it again sometime."

"I don't remember ever bringing any games with us though…" Alice wondered out loud to herself.

"You ordered it through room service." L answered her.

"Man, you can get anything from this hotel, can't you?"

***Unpause***

_Alice shoved all the cards off the coffee table and pouted. _

"_I don't want to play anymore," She whimpered like a five year old, which interested L since she was still wearing her black dress. Clearly she was an adult, but her personality said otherwise. _

"_Nobody likes a sore loser Ace," L stood up. Alice watched him as he grabbed another sucker from the bucket. Grumbling, she pulled another piece of cake toward her and started to eat it. It had been her forth piece already, though she didn't notice all too much since she was eating merely out of frustration. _

***Pause***

"I think I know what's going to happen," Alice interrupted again.

"Oh?"

"You've been keeping track of how many cakes I've eaten, which means I probably got a sugar high." Alice guessed, though she was pretty sure that was going to be it. She could even already start to remember bits and pieces of the night.

"Then I'm going to assume that wasn't your first time experiencing a _sugar high_ as you called it?"

"Yeah, but what I don't understand is how I don't remember anything. It wasn't like I had any alcohol right?"

"Well you did have some rum cake, but not enough of it to effect you."

"Then how did I…?" Alice started again, but L stopped her before she could continue on.

"Let me finish the story then."

Alice shut her mouth and listened.

***Unpause***

_L sat quietly in his chair in front of his desk, checking out some video on his computer for the case. He had finally gotten back to work and he was just starting to catch up on what he missed. Even though he didn't like the idea of being behind on his job, he did enjoy the time he had with Alice. _

_As he continued to monitor the surveillance footage, he quietly heard Alice out in the living room, giggling to herself. That was a sign that things were going to go bad. Mentally, L prepared himself for the worst. Just as he was preparing himself, that's when Alice struck. She slammed open the office door and came into the room with the biggest smile on her face. _

"_You-are-never-going-to-believe-this, I-had-like-ten-cakes-and-now-feel-like-a-rocket!" She said so quickly it almost sounded like one word all together. Even L had to repeat it to himself more slowly so he could try to understand what she had just said. She then giggled again and started to bounce up and down in one spot, her feet unable stop themselves from moving. A second later she was out of the office and back into the living room laughing out loud to herself. L stared at the open door for a second, waiting to see if she would return, but she did not. He was mildly worried about the girl, but he needed to work on the case, so he just decided to ignore her for the moment. _

_Alice didn't give him the chance to start up his work though as she barge right back into his office with her cell phone in her hand._

"_I'm-going-call-the-kids! Is-that-alright? I'm-going-to-call-them! I-miss-them, do-you-think-they-miss-me? I'm-going-to-call-them!" Alice repeated over and over. It was almost like she was talking to herself. L knew that wasn't going to be a good idea. _

"_Ace, please put the phone down," L stood up slowly to try and coax her. Alice noticed this and backed away a little with a frown. She saw no harm in calling the Wammy house, even though she was a little more hyped up then usual. She still had her common sense, only it was just amplified by a sugar rush. She saw no harm in what she considered to be just being extra happy. _

_L didn't look at it the same way she did though. He only saw a young hyped up girl who wasn't thinking as clearly as she should have been. She had no control over the sugar that was running through her veins, unlike L who was a master of his glucose levels. The fact that he burned it so quickly helped him maintain his perfect health, but Alice's body wasn't trained to take in a lot of sugar all in one sitting. She was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. L almost thought to call Watari, but that thought quickly left him when he saw her run out of the office screaming._

"_NOOOOO I WANT TO CALL THEM!" _

_L pinched the bridge of his nose and quickly shuffled to the open door and watched her as she grabbed one of the buckets full of candy. _

"_Ace…" L warned her. An evil smiled played on her lips._

"_Taste the rainbow!" Alice laughed wildly, thrusting the bucket forward and dumping all the skittles onto the ground, making them roll all the way past L's feet and into the office. L knew the danger he was in then. He couldn't move unless he wanted to trip. The skittles were a perfect trap that L wasn't going to be able to break through. He lightly cursed to himself for not moving faster. The bad thing about Alice's sugar high was that she still had complete control of her brain, which made her hyper and intelligent, unlike the alcohol which would have made her more gullible. _

"_How cliché," L referred to her silly pun she used before she threw the skittles. _

"_Please, it was brilliant and you know it," Alice smiled in returned while throwing down the empty bucket. When Alice could see she was safe, she flipped open her phone and smiled even wider._

"_You can't call them Ace,"_

_Alice snorted and stuck her hand onto her curvy hip. She gave him a look that clearly stated that she didn't care._

"_I'm serious Ace," L warned her again._

"_Why can't I? It's not like I'm going to tell them where I am, I'm not that stupid." Alice said to him more seriously. She may have been a little hyper, but it wasn't as if her brain wasn't working. _

"_I never said you were stupid. You can't call them because it's well past midnight, which means all the children are probably asleep."_

_Alice froze with the open phone in her hand, glaring at it as if it just gave her a tiny shock. She hadn't even considered the time, and she had just claimed she wasn't stupid. Secretly, she thanked L for not insulting her after winning, which he would usually do, but in a playful way. However, she wasn't willing to just go down nicely. She had to make sure she came out the winner in the end. Her pride was on the line. _

"_Good show Mr. Bond. It seems you have found the flaw in my plan." Alice shut her phone closed with one hand and straightened herself out to look taller. Crossing her arms, she evilly twisted a pretend mustache just above her pink lips. "But you have not won this battle, be prepared for my next attack," She chuckled wickedly, eying L as if he was beneath her. L was not at all concerned over her sudden change in demeanor. At that point, he was used to it._

"_You're not going to let me get back to work, are you?" L sighed. He could already feel his muscles getting sore, and he had hardly done anything physical that day. _

"_Silence!" Alice boomed, not letting L break her character. She then grabbed hold of the bucket of gummy bears on the counter next to her; her hands grasping the cold silver metal. L lost a little bit of color to his face, his mind already envisioning what she was about to do. "This is the end for you Bond," She playfully purred, grabbing a handful of gummy bears into her hand. They were cool to the touch and squishy enough to fit quite a few into her fist. _

"_Ace…" L was going to try and coax again, but Alice wasn't going to hear it. She was already cheated out of her last revenge, so she was going to take matters into her own hands._

"_EAT BEAR!" She screamed. She then chucked the gummy bears at L, each one glistening off the moons light as they flew across the living room. When they made contact, L stood his ground, letting the rubber bears bounce off him. He was unaffected by the candy, holding out one of his hands and catching one of the flying gummy bears. He then popped it into his mouth as if nothing was wrong with the idea of gummy bears attacking him. _

_A second later Alice was on her hands and knees with the empty bucket next to her, pouting in disappointment._

"_I have failed," She whimpered, a blue mist over her head. It wasn't the outcome Alice was hoping for, but then again, she knew better then to try and get back at L using candy. _

_L was impressed with her dedication to her character. Quietly he noted down in his head that she was indeed a good actor; A little over the top, but still very convincing. _

"_Are you finished?" L then wondered, getting back to what was really important. A large vein pulsed on Alice's forehead. _

"_NEVE…!" She started to shout while shooting up, but before she could finish, she slammed the top part of her head under the counter that was sticking out into the living room from the kitchen. She landed right back onto her butt and her eyes started to swirl like two hypnotizing disks. A second later she fell back onto the ground with little birds and stars circling around her, her eyes spinning clockwise. _

_L watched it all happen, hearing the collision of her skull on the granite. He cringed slightly and watched her fall back onto the ground, knocked out cold. _

"_I'm going to take that as a yes." L finished, pulling a gummy bear from his messy hair and popping it into his mouth. The bear tasted sweet. _

***End***

Alice was completely silent, her mouth slightly ajar. The whole night was starting to come back to her, like a flood of her memories pouring into her brain all at once. She had no idea what to say, all she could do was take it all in quietly to herself.

"It's safe to say that the impact you had with the kitchen counter had probably caused you to lose some of your memory."

Alice still did not have anything to say. She stared down at the ground in awe of herself.

"Ace?" L tried to get her attention. It worried him a little that she was not responding. Even though he had checked on her after she had hit her head and determined it not to be harmful, she still could have suffered some medical problems that he was not aware of. He was about to try her name again when he notice a smile creep up on her face. That's when he found himself dumbfounded as she started to laugh even more.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" She held her stomach as she squatting into the position L was usually in. Her laughter soon turned into to snorting and she couldn't help the joy that was building up inside of her.

"Ace?" L became more concerned. Alice noticed the concern in his voice and calmed down a little, still chuckling here and there, but finding it easier to stand up.

"When we get back to the Wammy house, let's play Hedbanz" She laughed playfully. L's body relaxed and his heart calmed down. Alice always seemed to surprise him. Just when he thought she was going to break down or get angry, she surprises him by laughing. It was yet another part of Alice that was growing on L. Just when he believes he starts to understand her, she throws him through a loop.

"That would be nice." L agreed with her. But then L looked about his desk at all the work. It was at that moment he remembered what he had to do, his mind switching back over to his job in an instant. "Oh Ace, I'm going to need you to put on a blindfold."

Alice amusement quickly vanished. "What?"

* * *

Alice stroked the leather seat that was under her. She could feel that she was moving, but other than that she had no idea where she was going. When L had said he wanted to take her somewhere to work on the case, she had not expected to be blindfolded. She wasn't even sure she was going to be allowed out of the hotel room after last night's ordeal, but there she was in the back seat of some car with nice leather seats. L was next to her of course to make sure she didn't peek. It was going to be her test, and he wanted to see how much he could push her. The past three experiments had been with photos, but at that point he wanted to try something different.

"You had informed me before that by having somebody's personal belongings, you could get a reading, is that correct?"

Alice frowned and crossed her arms. She had a feeling she was going to have another test given to her, but she wasn't sure why she needed to be taken somewhere and blindfolded.

"Yeah, that's right," Alice clarified for him, still trying to wrap her head around it all.

"Interesting…" L murmured to himself. Alice didn't like the sound of his tone. It could have been her own paranoia that was messing with her, but it almost sounded as if L was excited.

"Listen, if this is to get back at me for the whole dinner and candy explosion thing, I said I was sorry," Alice tried to ease L. She knew that whenever L was happy, it wasn't good for her.

"You can relax Ace, I have already forgiven you. I don't plan to harm you in anyway." L stated. He could hear the worry in her voice and he didn't want her to have a cluttered mind before she was to take on her next experiment. Alice relaxed her tense shoulders, leaning back into the smooth leather.

"Good. So where are you taking me then?" Alice then wondered. L didn't respond to her right away, more distracted by the scenery out the window.

"If I were to tell you, then there would be no point for you to have a blindfold on."

Alice smiled to herself, already liking the atmosphere. Even though they had a bumpy morning, it had lightened up considerably since they had gotten in the car.

"Touché," She responded happily.

When the vehicle had finally come to a stop, Alice could start to feel the nerves build up inside of her stomach. She usually never felt nervous for anything other than when she was in the 5th grade and she had to play a soldier that marched with a fake wooden gun on her shoulder. That was the only time she had ever felt scared to perform. Mainly because she wasn't allowed to smile, and she didn't know if she could hold out long enough not to.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her door open up. Feeling around to try and grab something to hold onto when she got out of the car, she came across a warm large hand. It was smooth on the palm but was a little rough on the fingers, as if the hand had worked its fingers rigorously. That's when L's voice called out to her, clarifying to her whose hand it was.

"Come with me Ace, I will guide you to where you need to go." His smooth deep voice echoed in her ears. Ever since she had the blindfold on, she had started to notice how nice his voice really was. It was calming and gentle, almost as if she were hearing a cold night's breeze.

"You mean I don't get to take this thing off yet?" Alice whined a little, squeezing his hand to show him she did not like being blind. L felt her grip tighten.

"Do not worry Ace, when this is over, you will be able to remove it." L said to her more calmly. He hadn't really made it clear as to what he was going to do, so her mind wasn't too much at ease. She grunted back to him to show that she was displeased. L ignored the girls' obvious attempts to make him feel bad and pulled her forward. Alice went right along with him without another complaint. Instead she decided to get herself ready for whatever L had planned for her. She took in deep calming breaths to relax her cluttered mind. In the background she could hear some cars go by, but they were faint, which meant they were somewhere away from the road. The ride there had only taken about 20 minutes, so she couldn't have gone too far out of the city. When Alice felt L stop, she stopped with him and waited, her mind finally clear, but her body tense. That's when she heard the sound of a door click open. It sounded old as it squeaked.

"Here we are," L announced, pulling Alice forward once more until she was inside. When Alice had fully made it into the room, she felt carpet under her feet, which was odd. There weren't many places that had rooms that started out with carpet in Paris.

"Where are we?" She wondered out loud. She wasn't expecting L for an answer.

"I was hoping you could try to tell me that." L finally gave away his plan. Even though she had never told him whether or not she had that kind of psychic ability, it was worth a try anyway to see what she could come up with. The real test was to just see if she needed her eyes or not. Alice had a feeling it was going to end up like that. She frowned and tried to relax her stiff legs.

"I can't guarantee you anything," Alice finally found her voice.

"I don't have any expectations, I just wish for you to try."

Alice felt a little better after hearing him say that. It wasn't as if she was an expert on using her ability. In fact, she always felt she had less control over it over the years she had been aware of it.

"Alright, well here I go," She declared, reluctantly letting go of L's warm and secure hand. She had liked the comfortable feeling it had given her, but as soon as she let it go, she could feel her body go into a defense mode, almost as if there was somebody else in the room watching and waiting to kill her. She didn't like the feeling, and she could feel her heart start to beat faster and faster. Even though she knew there wasn't anybody else in the room except for L, she couldn't help the feeling of wanting to run right out. Her legs were frozen stiff though. In her mind she could hear screaming, a scream so piercing that she couldn't help her face from cringing. She couldn't make out if it was a man or a woman's, but that didn't matter to her.

Then out of nowhere, she could start to taste something warm and metallic in her mouth, but felt nothing that was out of the ordinary. It was all just in her head. But she was so sure she was tasting blood in her mouth. "I don't like it in here," She spoke, her legs starting to shake from having stood in one place for too long. It also didn't help that it was pitch black and she had nothing like L's hand to comfort her.

"Why don't you like it in here?" L replied to her as soothing as he could to try and calm her down. He had noticed her face growing pale and her legs starting to shake. He had wanted to pull her out of the room, but he knew he couldn't do that unless he was willing to give up on the experiment, which was not an option. Alice was hesitant at first to answer him, afraid that he wouldn't believe her if she did. She knew better than to believe that though. He had been willing to listen to her for that long without much proof, so she was determined to keep on trying.

"I taste blood in my mouth."

L was quick to act, grabbing her face in one hand and pulling her jaw down with him thumb.

"Blood?" He worried, thinking that maybe she had bitten her tongue out of fear. Alice was surprised to feel his hand on her face, forcing her mouth open. Everything that she had been feeling before suddenly vanished after his hand had made contact to her skin. Her whole body could finally relax. She was still a little tense for having L touch her, but nothing that bothered her.

"I meaunt iut fiuguratavely." She tried to talk with her mouth forced open by L.

"Oh?" L let go of her so she could shut her mouth. He was glad to hear she was okay. Alice rubbed her jaw to try and bring some life back into it. He wasn't hard on her, but it still left a bit of a tingle.

"Yes, there isn't any real blood, but I could taste it." She clarified one last time. L became more fascinated.

"What does that mean?"

"Well," Alice started, feeling a lot better now that the uneasiness was gone. "I'm going to guess that somebody had died in this room."

"Interesting, could you tell me how this individual died?"

Alice thought about it for some time, hoping that maybe something would come to her. The only part that stuck out to her was the feeling of somebody watching her, other than L.

"Murder," Alice said more confidently than she thought she was going to.

"What brought you to that conclusion?"

"A gut feeling I suppose. The room to me just screams murder," She said figuratively, though in her mind she had heard the screaming.

"Well you still haven't answered my first question. Do you know where you are?" L continued on, even though he was already impressed with what he had heard.

"I don't know," Alice truthfully answered in return. The only feeling she got from the room was uneasiness. Other than that, there was nothing for her to go off of to determine her location. Unless she said she was in a haunted house, which she figured wouldn't please L.

"I appreciate you at least trying. I'm going to remove the blindfold now. If another impression comes to you, please inform me right away."

Alice nodded her head to where she heard his voice. She then felt his presence walk in front of her, his body heat close to hers as he towered a head taller than her. Even though he was hunched over, he was still a good few inches taller than her. Alice could even smell his sugar coated breath on her forehead. When his hands had gripped the knot that was tied on the back of her head, a chill was sent down her spine. It didn't help that she was blind, and therefore didn't know when the contact was going to take place.

L watched Alice's face as he started to loosen the knot. She looked serene standing there. He was a head taller than her, so he had a clear view of the top of her head. Her blonde hair seemed almost white up close. She also had a very distinct smell. She used the same shampoo repetitively, and it was no surprise to L that it was scented with oranges. The scent reminded him that he should order her some for when they got back to the hotel. It had been a while since she had any, and he figured that was probably one of the causes for her misbehavior.

When he was finally finished with the knot, he slowly took the blindfold off her. He didn't want to hurt her eyes with the light since she had been wearing it for quite some time. Alice was slow to open her eyes, knowing the bright light was going to sting. It wasn't until a good minute went by that she felt confident enough to open them all the way. When she could finally see, she was surprised to see L still looming over her, looking down at her in interest. She sweated a little and coughed into one of her hands to try and get him to understand the awkward situation. L blinked twice, not catching on to Alice's hint. Alice sighed and took a step back. If L wasn't going to do anything about it, then Alice just had to take the initiative.

That's when Alice had noticed where she was. Right behind L was a bed that was framed by old metal bars. On the opposite side of her was a door that opened up to a small bathroom. Down on the floor was a blue carpet with a few stains. The rest of the room didn't have much else. A dresser here and a side table there, but other than that, it was barren. The only part of the room that did not match the décor were some of the yellow tape and markers for when a murder investigation took place. That's when Alice eyed the stains again and gagged to herself when she discovered it was blood.

"Oh man," She flinched away, now more aware why she didn't like that motel room. L was quick to respond, fully aware of her new found discomfort.

"I'm deeply sorry for not warning you, but I would like to point out that this experiment has been a success, even though it was not the answer I was expecting."

Alice eyes widened over to L. The room seemed to disappear at that point and all she could think about was those last few words L had said to her. All that time Alice had been struggling to try and prove herself, but in the end failing. Even though her first test with L went okay, there still wasn't any real satisfaction yet; especially the last case with the flowers. She found it to be a miracle when L said he was going to give her another shot. So she could only at that point grin from ear to ear, knowing that she had finally made some sort of impression on the detective.

Though Alice was still unaware of how accurate she had been thus far, clouding L's own theory on what could be considered real or fake. He was a lot more impressed then Alice had known.

"I got it right?" She asked with that grin, even though the yellow tape pretty much proved it.

"Well you got the main theme of it all, but you lacked considerably in detail."

"Don't spoil my moment, just say I'm right and praise me."

"Very well, you are right Ace, "

"What about complementing me?"

"I applaud you and your abilities to make an educated guess and somehow end up being right."

"Close enough," Alice accepted.

* * *

Here are to my reviewers! I can't stress enough how happy you all make me!

**WellIneedtomakeanaccountArik, Foam Weber **(Good Idea! *Pulls out candy*)**, Sophiana, Its Me Not You, PandasWithDeathNotes, and Mushimushoo.** (Thank you everyone!)**  
**

**Alice: **I'm your first? I FEEL SO HONORED! I do mean you reviewing for your first time. I didn't mean for that to sound dirty (Don't feel bad, cause I sometimes think like a pervert too)...anyway! When you review to me, its kind of like my character is reviewing her own story, so your not alone in thinking its weird. Don't get me wrong though, because I love hearing from you and it makes me so happy that you enjoy reading my story! Having a prank pulled off by Matt and Mello could be pretty entertaining, I'll have to think about that one. They are geniuses, so I would have to think up something pretty elaborate if I was going to do it. I love your ideas and I can't wait to hear from you again! I would hug you but I have a feeling that would make me more of a pervert, so I will give you chocolate hugs instead! *Hands over***  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Uh...this is a hard one...hmmm...is it an anchovy? That seems to random...I can't figure it out, what is it?**  
**

**Blue Fire Lily: **Here **=D** *Hands over extras from the chapter* I'm sure they wont miss some of their candy and cakes.

**Isshi Urahara: **Congratulations! I have a friend who swims and I've been to a few competitions. They can be pretty intense, so good job of being 1st and 3rd! I will have to send you one of the extra cakes from the chapter to celebrate. I'm sure L wont notice one missing...**  
**

**DrPepper4Ever:** I encourage you to keep writing and I'm so happy that I can help you continue that! I am actually very proud to have so many people read and like my story so far.

**Frogata: **beautiful, just beautiful. _*Starts a slow clap, but builds it up quickly until the sound of a thunderous crowed erupts*_**  
**

**Stuck in a maze-ing:** I'm lost, but for some reason I can't stop laughing.


	19. Serial Killer Investigation Part 3

Hello everyone!

Welcome to chapter 19 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

I think I'm going to bake some cookies today! Anybody want one?

Enjoy the chapter guys! XD

* * *

**Serial Killer Investigation Part 3**

"I'm getting really tired of being left in the dark, and I do mean that literally too. No more blindfolds please," Alice raised both her hands in front of her. Both she and L were still inside the motel room, Alice waiting for L to explain himself. It had already been a full day that she had been in France, and yet she knew next to nothing about the case. Of course she did blame that a little on herself for goofing off, but at that point she was putting all her effort into the case, and she wanted to know more.

"What is it that you wish to know?"

"Everything! Who's the serial killer? Who are the ones that have been killed so far? Why would two of the victims be in a motel room?"

L stayed quiet for a moment, looking around the room in silence, his own thoughts filtering his clouded mind. When he finally met back with Alice's eyes, he saw the fire within them. That's when he was more than sure of her dedication. She had finally become serious.

"For now I will explain the importance of this room." He began, catching Alice's full attention. "On June 2nd at around 1:32 am, both Madeleine Porter and Gaston Troilus were shot and killed in this very room."

Alice took in every word like a sponge, mostly concentrating on the two victims names. She tried to keep her mind off of the whole being shot in the room thing, since she didn't want to think about being in a room where somebody was murdered.

"Who killed them?"

"That is still unknown."

Alice looked at L in bewilderment.

"I thought you already had the killer's identity?" She wondered, thinking back to their conversation after she was pulled away from her punishment at the Wammy house. "And what about that Raymond guy who drowned? I thought he was a suspect too?"

"Raymond F. Charles was found on the banks of the Oise River 50 miles out of Paris on July 13th, right before we had left for Paris." L finally revealed, knowing that that was a good time to do so. Alice paused before she spoke, not really believing what she had just heard.

"What?" She had to ask encase she heard wrong. Her voice was an octave higher which usually happened to her when she's thrown off guard.

"Your analysis of his photo was correct." L bluntly stated. A smile returned to Alice's lips, but after a moment of thought she frowned once again.

"You lied to me than. You already knew he was dead, and I bet he was never one of your suspects!"

"Wrong." L referred to her last statement. "He was very much so a suspect of being the killer, but ever since he was found in the river, I've been looking elsewhere. I still do believe that he was behind some of the killings, but he was not the man who pulled the trigger."

"You mean he ordered somebody to kill for him?"

"That is my theory."

"Why?"

"Serial killers usually have a motive, whether it is a patron of rage or perusable riches. What makes this particular serial killer stand out is the way he disposes of his victims. The two found in this room were both shot in the back of the head. The third victim, which you do not know yet, had the same outcome."

"So he's consistent, what does that mean?"

"It's a professional kill, done by somebody who has had experience in such a field."

"So he's a hired assassin then?"

"A hitman would be a better term to use, and he's probably getting paid quite a bit for taking out so many people."

"Well if you believe Raymond hired him, then why was he found drowned in the Oise River?"

"I believe it would be best to finish this conversation back at the hotel. I had only wanted to use this space for experimentation."

Alice looked around the room again and agreed with L. She was more than happy to leave that place.

* * *

When they got outside, Alice noticed that she had been right about being a little ways away from the road. The motel was almost as if it was hidden, enclosed behind a tiny forest next to a rocky hill. On the outside it didn't look bad, matching a little with the surrounding city, but it was old and not the kind of place Alice ever wanted to return to.

When they reached the car, Alice wasn't all too surprised to see a Bentley. It was L signature car. For somebody who wanted to stay hidden, she was a little taken aback that he didn't switch up his motorized vehicles.

After they had taken their seats inside the car, the driver, who Alice did not know, took off, heading out of the parking lot and into the main road. Alice wanted to talk with L some more, but she didn't know whether she should trust the driver. L hadn't explained anything to her about him, and so she didn't know whether she had to pretend to be newlyweds or not. Going the safe route, she went with the newlywed disguise.

"So darling, I was thinking we could tour the city today." She smiled over at L. L didn't look back over at her, keeping his eyes locked in front of him.

"He works for me Ace, you don't have to pretend."

"Thank god," Alice relaxed, letting her stiff body melt into the cold leather. Her relaxation didn't last long though when she suddenly started to feel her phone vibrate in her pocket. Excitement shot through her and it was only in a matter of seconds before she had her phone pulled out and pressed to her ear.

"Hello?" She anxiously asked.

"Miss Ace, It's a pleasure to hear your voice," Watari answered her. Alice's smile grew.

"Watari!" She squealed. Watari laughed in return. Back at the house it had been quiet. It had only been just a day, but he was already missing the girl, even though all she had ever done was cause problems. Of course he loved all the children and enjoyed the time he had teaching and being with them, but it had been a while since he's had to scold someone, and he was starting to miss using such forceful emotions. It was almost as if a flame he had ignited before was going out.

"Have you been doing as your told?" Watari wondered. In the back of his mind he was hopping he could build up that tiny flame inside of him again. He had tried asking L earlier about her behavior, but he claimed that everything was going smoothly and there was nothing to worry about. Watari didn't believe him one bit, which was a surprise even to himself since he could always trust L.

Alice didn't answer him right away, not sure if Watari already knew everything. She didn't know if L had told him anything. She could deny it all but Watari would never believe her. He had even told her before that she was the last person he would trust. Alice swallowed, knowing that she was probably about to get a scolding.

"Uh…," She started to speak, ready to just tell the truth since lying was only going to make it worse. But before she could even begin, L snatched the phone from her hand and stuck it to his own ear, holding it with two fingers like always.

"Watari, Ace is at the moment working and would not like to be disturbed. If you wish to speak with her, I would like you to contact me first. She had already been interrupted enough and I can't have any more drawbacks."

Alice gapped at L, her mouth slightly ajar and her eyes round and large.

Watari sighed and leaned against his desk, knowing that he had just been caught snooping. L was sharp and Watari knew he didn't stand a chance against the young genius. Smiling to himself, Watari gave up.

"Yes sir, Pardon my intrusion. I will wait for your next call." He sighed, a small laugh building up inside him. It had been such a long time that he had tried to outwit L and he had never felt so much more alive. It was as if the years of old age were starting to melt away. When he heard the phone click off without L saying goodbye, he put down his cell and looked out the window up at the bright sun. The day seemed a lot brighter then most.

* * *

"Why did you do that?" Alice asked for the fifth time. After the phone call, Alice was given back her phone, but L had not clarified anything to her about what he had just done. They both had made it back to the hotel a few minutes ago and Alice was determined to make L talk. When they had entered their room, Alice tried once more. "Why did you tell Watari not to call me?"

"I have no problem with you calling Watari Back and telling him everything." L suggested, heading straight for the office. Alice took a moment at the door to rethink her complaining. It was only until that moment that she realized L had saved her from trouble. Watari hadn't known anything, and L had saved her from giving it all away. Gratitude filled up inside of her. She would have thanked L, but he had already gone into his office. Laughing at herself a little, she followed him to the office, ready to move on with the case instead. It was the only way she knew how to thank L without actually using any words.

"So shall we continue the investigation?" Alice smiled when she sat back down on her cushioned arm-chair.

"Of course," L agreed, happy to hear she had given up on the fight from before. "I believe your last question was why Mr. Charles had drowned..." L started talking to himself, trying to get back on track after having been interrupted. Alice nodded her head to show him he was right.

"Was his death an accident?" She then wondered, thinking back to what L had suspected. Raymond was supposedly the man that had hired a hitman, so if he was dead, then would his death have been an accident? Or did the hired hitman kill his own boss?

"He was murdered, it was no accident," L stated, catching Alice out of her own thinking.

"You mean the man he hired killed him?"

"That would be my first assumption, but I couldn't be one-hundred percent sure. Mr. Charles wasn't shot in the back of the head, which would lead me to believe it wasn't his hired hitman."

"You couldn't just say the hitman didn't do it because there's no bullet in the back of that guy's skull."

"Well, I would usually agree with that, but professionals such as the man Mr. Charles has hired don't tend to sway away from what they are confidant with. I would find it odd that the hitman would change the way he takes out his kills, when he already has such confidence in using a repetitive method of shooting his victims in the back of their heads."

"So do you think there are two killers then?"

"It's a possibility, but I refuse to believe so."

"Why? You even said that the hitman probably didn't kill him, and Raymond's death wasn't an accident, so then who could have killed him?"

"The hitman."

Alice threw both her arms up in the air, scoffing along the way.

"You're impossible!"

"No, I just came up with a new Theory." L said, looking around at his messy desk in thought.

"Care to explain it to me then?"

"Your concern on whether his death was an accident or murder had made me re-question my own analysis. I don't want to confuse you, but I believe his death was both an accident and a murder."

"I'm still sticking to my last statement." Alice bluntly stated, referring to her last remark about him being impossible.

"The hitman was going to kill Mr. Charles but something had affected the outcome differently, and thus he ended up in the river instead."

"I think my head is about to explode."

"Please try to keep your skull in one piece until we are through, I still have much to tell you."

"Oh thanks for asking, but don't worry about me, I'm fine." Alice sarcastically sighed.

"Good," L continued. Alice just groaned once more, not happy that L was ignoring her sarcasm. "Now I would like to explain more about the victims."

"The two who were killed in that room?"

"Yes, we could start with those two."

Alice got more comfortable so she could be more prepared for the explanation. She had a feeling it was going to end up more intricate then the last one.

"Gaston Troilus was a Supreme Court justice, a well respected judge close to his retirement ago of 60." L began, flipping though some of the papers on his desk. Alice figured he was trying to locate a photo of the judge. "The second victim was Madeleine Porter. She was married to Levi Porter who works at one of the local bakeries in town."

Alice started to put the two together in her mind, thinking back to the motel room they had both been shot in. That's when she gasped.

"These two were having an affair!"

"Correct, Madeleine Porter was having an affair with Gaston Troilus."

"So then do you think Madeleine's husband found out and killed them?"

"I have already looked into that theory and I am confident that Mr. Porter had no idea his wife was cheating on him. He has an alibi anyway at the time of their death."

"So then why would Raymond hire somebody to kill them?"

"That is the part of the case I am still trying to figure out."

"Well you said before that serial killers usually kill out of rage or for money. Since I don't really see any connection between a judge and a shipping director, I'm going to assume it had to do with money."

"Impressive Ace. I would be more careful though with coming to such a conclusion without knowing all the information first. I still haven't told you about the third victim. I will agree with you though that the main motive for these killings would be wealth."

Alice just shrugged it off, sticking with her gut feeling. She wasn't a detective, so she didn't care all that much about all the facts. She had woman's intuition which was good enough for her.

"So this third victim then?"

"Yes, Luke S. Jean, a well known government official and human rights activist."

"Hold up," Alice raised her hand to stop him." You're telling me that a government official, a judge, and a house wife were all murdered by the orders of a shipping director? Those three people don't even make any sense. Why would Raymond want all those people dead?"

"Again, that's the part of the case I'm still working on." L confirmed. "Do you remember the photo I showed you of Marc Amour Durand?"

"Oh yeah, that dude who you thought was also dead."

"Yes, well that "dude" was another victim. When you unconsciously touched the back of your head, I immediately recognized the probability of his death by being shot."

"You're kidding me…" Alice gapped at L.

"I don't see why I would be joking with you at the moment. This is an extremely serious case." L didn't pick up on the informal linguistics. Alice just shook her head back and forth to try and rattle her brain. One by one her premonitions were working out for her. She wasn't used to being right, so she had to try and bring some life into her brain so it could comprehend it all.

"So do you have any idea why all these people were killed?" She then asked, finding her focus back on him. She would have time later to gap at her own ability, but at the moment the case interested her more.

"I have a few presumptions, but I'm not satisfied with the evidence to support any of them. "

"Well let me hear one and I'll tell you what I think."

"I don't wish to affront you Ace, but I highly doubt you could help with the motive. I do have the victim's photos though in which you can look over." L offered instead, causing Alice to frown. She didn't think she would have been useless, but it was L's word against hers, and she knew there was no way she could win that argument.

"Fine, hand them over." She sighed, extending her hand out towards him. L was more than happy to hand over the three victim's photo's she hadn't seen yet. She had already looked at the other two, so it was only those three that interested L at the time.

That's when a knock at the door startled Alice, making her jump in her seat. L looked out of the office at the door in the living room. Alice turned her body and looked to the same door with worry. L was quick to ease her mind though.

"That would be room service. Would you please take care of that?" L asked Alice. Alice looked back at L once more, skeptical about the whole situation.

"You ordered more cake? We still have like 30 whole cakes out in the kitchen…"

"No Ace, I have not ordered any more sweets, now please, the door." L ordered once again. Alice rolled her eyes and got up from her chair. She stretched a little and then made her way out of the office and into the living room, avoiding the pieces of skittles and gummy bears on the ground. When she reached the door, she heard the knocks again.

"I'm coming, calm down." She blurted out. The knocking stopped immediately. When she opened the door she was greeted by a young woman dressed up in a black pencil skirt, a green vest, and a white blouse underneath it all neatly pressed and pristine. Her hair was tightly woven into a bun and pinned together so no stray hair could be found. Her smile was gentle but Alice could see that it all was just part of her job. What once was a genuine smile had grown into only a professional one that was usually forced just so she was guaranteed a tip.

In the woman's arms was a large silver tray covered with a just as large silver dome.

"Room service," She greeted happily. Alice smiled to her in return.

"I can take that from you. I doubt you would be able to find a place for it in here,"

The woman tilted her head a little in interest. She hadn't known what Alice was talking about until she saw what was behind the girl. Her smile faltered for a second, her face growing pale in the process. The candy coated floors and cakes were the last things she ever expected to see. The girl was only thankful that she didn't work for the cleaning crew. She was starting to appreciate her job a little more. She was quick to recover though, making sure to stay professional.

"Yes, of course miss," She held the tray out for Alice. Alice graciously took the tray and said her thank-you's to the woman by giving her a nice tip. When the door was shut and all was quiet, Alice quickly set the tray on the ground, anxious to see what L had gotten. She would have put the tray on the table, but that was covered with cakes, along with the kitchen counter. She had no other choice but the ground. Lifting the lid, Alice prepared herself for the worst. She never knew what L would get and she wasn't going to let her guard down just in case.

She gasped when she saw what was under the lid. An assortment of orange slices arranged in a way that shaped into a large flower. Alice had never seen anything so beautiful in her life, other than the ring that graced her finger. She was going to take it off earlier, but she had no idea where she would have put it without it getting lost. She was extremely unorganized, so she figured it was safer on her finger. At least that's what she kept telling herself.

"Oranges!" Alice squealed like a child, clapping her hands in the process.

L overheard her from inside the office. He broke away from his work and smiled over to where he heard her delighted cheer.

Alice was quick to start stuffing her face with the slices. They were incredibly tangy with enough juice to drown herself in. It was as if everything around her disappeared and all there was was her and the oranges. She didn't even care she was sitting on the floor. She was in ultimate bliss. She then wondered if that was how L felt when he ate cake.

* * *

L looked over the surveillance footage for the 100th time, making sure that every detail was embedded into his already overstocked brain. He pushed himself through, knowing there was still much more his brain could retain. For him, there was no limit. He never accepted just knowing generalized data. Everything had to have minute details, whether it is the color of the man's shirt that worked at the motel, or the butterfly that fluttered off to the right next to the flower patch full of daisies. The less significant the object, the more essential it becomes. Even though it was just a mere butterfly, to L, it was the only indicator that a gun was shot at around the time of death. Of course there was the motel's manager who heard the shots, but the butterfly was the physical proof. When the shots were fired, L could study the once relaxed bug abruptly jump off the daisy and fly away hysterically. It was evidence that only he was able to see, which goes to show why he is known as the greatest detective.

But even with such incredible insight and dedication to detail, he was still unable to come up with the killer, or the reason behind the hired hitman. He had spent the morning going back and forth with different ideas, but none of them seemed to persuade him.

Morning had gone by so quickly and so L was working though the afternoon by then, his desk littered with papers and his computer screen compiled with different footages.

Alice had gone over the three photos before, but nothing significant was brought up. For the Supreme Court judge's photo, Gaston Troilus, she could only sense the taste of wine and cigar smoke, both of which L knew the judge consumed a lot of. The house wife's photo, Madeleine Porter, was about the same. Alice only could feel the woman's anguish toward her husband and a severe lack in confidence. The emotions meant nothing to L, so he overlooked that photo in an instant. The last photo of the government official, Luke S. Jean, was different though. She was able to come up with the man's diagnostic health condition of being cancerous, and with a word L had kept repeating to himself for the past three hours; black market. The meaning of the word was obvious, but L wasn't sure how it fit with the case. Taking another bite of his cake, he prepared himself for the long day ahead of him.

On the other hand, Alice was out in the living room sitting down on the sofa, her legs curled under her in a criss-cross pattern. The boys at the Wammy house had called her once again and she had been spending a good hour arguing with Mello. The argument was about who would win in a fight, a giant beetle or a giant ant. She had no idea how the subject ever came about, but it was an argument she wasn't willing to lose.

"The ant would win hands down! Have you seen the pincers on those things?" Alice got louder.

"The beetles horns would crush the ant, it would be a like a rhino charging!"

"Please, the ant would just pick the beetle up and toss him around. An ant can carry 30 times its own body weight."

"You idiot, it 50 times its own weight." Mello scoffed.

"So you agree with me than, the ant would win!" Alice laughed. Mello growled on the other line.

"If the ant were to even touch the beetle it would be poisoned, beetles can release chemicals that paralyze."

"The ant wouldn't have to touch the beetle; he would just shoot him with his lasers."

"ANTS DON'T HAVE LASERS! NOW YOU'RE JUST MAKING SHIT UP!" Mello yelled back. Alice laughed wickedly, enjoying the fact that she knew she was winning, even if she was just adding her own twist to it.

"Your right, so how about we forget about the bugs and discuss something more important,"

"Like what?" Mello continued to grumble.

"Who would win in a boxing match, a sword fish or a large lobster? They would both have incredibly large afros too to make it more authentic."

"I'M NOT PLAYING THAT STUPID GAME ANYMORE!" Mello barked back, sounding more angry then before. Alice held onto her stomach as she laughed, snorting uncontrollably. Tears were even starting to brim around her eyes.

"Hey Ace, you need to stop messing with Mello, you know how easily upset he can get." Matt took over the phone, taking it from Mello. Mello shouted at Matt for interfering, but didn't make any attempt to take the phone back. He had enough of Alice anyway.

"Your right, I should stop,"

"You're not going to stop."

"No, I'm not."

Matt sighed but kept up his smile. It had only been a day and he was already missing the girl. He believed Mello felt the same way, but he knew that Mello would never admit to that. Even though he could call her any time, he still felt like he was missing all the wonderfully entertaining things she would usually do. He missed the chaotic house and he missed Roger or Watari yelling at her. The house was just too quiet without her.

"By the way Matt, what's your favorite color?" Alice wondered, thinking over some souvenir presents she would bring back to the children.

"Why would you need to know that?"

"Because at night I plan on painting a mustache on your face, and I would at least like it to be a color you enjoy."

"Well in that case, red, to match my hair."

Alice chuckled lightly, happy to finally have somebody understand her sarcasm so well. Matt was basically the only one in the house who even knew what the word meant, other than L who would frequently use it against her rather than having fun with her.

"Perfect,"

"Matt, we got to go, hang up on her already." Mello spoke from the background, sounding incredibly irritable.

"Yeah, sure, calm down," Matt waved off, unaffected by Mello's mood in the least. "We got to go babe, I'll call you later at around 5 o'clock." Matt then assured. Alice groaned but accepted his departure.

"Fine, see yeah,"

"Bye," Matt chuckled one last time before hanging up on Alice. Alice sighed once again, knowing that at that point she had nothing else to do. L didn't need her help anymore after she had discussed with him about the photos, she wasn't allowed to leave the hotel unless she was watched by somebody, and she had already eaten all the oranges. So there was nothing left for her to do. Looking around the messy room, she eyed all the gummy bears on the ground, counting how many red ones she could find. She pitied herself for having it come to counting gummy bears.

* * *

L set aside some of the files he knew would mean nothing to the case. The rut that he was in moments ago was starting to fade and he was back going through ideas that were starting to make more sense. Even though the motive for the killings was still fuzzy for him, the identity of the killer was just between two people, and he was more than confidant about which one it was. Shuffling through some of the labels on his desktop, he came to a picture with a young man in his twenties with dark short messy brown hair and 5'oclock shadow. His eyes were a piercing dark green and he was looking away from the camera, unaware that a photo was taken of him. L looked over the man's information and nodded his head.

"Found you."

"THEO!" Alice's scream echoed from the living room. L cringed and looked over to his office door. He hadn't noticed how quiet it had gotten and he should have known better then to ignore the signs. Alice earlier was talking to the children, so L considered himself safe, but since he had gotten more into the case, he had forgotten to keep one ear open just in case Alice tried anything.

Alice was quick to barge into the office, ready to try and argue with L on whether or not she could help with the case anymore. She refused to be bored and wait for L to finish it on his own.

"I'm going to help you, and that's final!" She demanded, walking right up to his desk and standing strong. L was quick to look back at his own work, not ready to stop his train of thought. Since he was already so close to finding out all the answers, the last thing he wanted was for Alice to hold him back by bothering him for her to help.

"Alright, take a seat then." L gave in quickly so he wouldn't lose sight of the information in front of him.

"No! I will hel…Wait, really?" Alice was thrown off. She then smiled as wide as she could, overjoyed that she won in just a matter of seconds.

"Yes, now sit." L ordered again. Alice sat down in the chair without a second word, her heart racing a mile a minute. She was back in and she didn't want to say anything to ruin it. Waiting patiently, she watch L type away at his computer, the screens light illuminating his white skin and reflecting off his eyes. When L finally reached a point where he was comfortable with what he had as evidence, he started to turn his monitor around so Alice could see the picture of the man. "His name is Victor Zakhar," L began. Alice leaned forward to get a better look at the photo. He was an incredibly handsome man with a devilish look to him. Alice had never seen eyes as green as his. "He is the hitman Mr. Charles hired to kill all those people," L summed it up. Alice leaned back quickly and regretted ever having any thoughts of the man being cute. She had to bite her tongue just to force herself to do so.

"So how did you figure out it was him?" She asked, trying to forget about the previous thoughts of enjoying a killer's appearance.

"Mr. Zakhar is more well known in Russia where he runs his own privet business called, _Vyhod, _which means exit in English. Though he usually adds onto his title with _Lyegkey Vyhod, _turning the phrase into the _easy way out_,"

Alice tried not to smile at the irony of the name. She had to be professional about it or else L would have kicked her out of the office. Instead she decided to distract herself with something else.

"So now you speak Russian?"

"I speak a variety of languages, but that's beside the point. Mr. Zakhar was hired to come to France and dispose of those people. I knew it was him because back in Russia I followed him in another case. The method of killing was the exact same."

"So have you figured out why Raymond would hire Victor then?"

"I actually wanted to ask you a question about your comment on Mr. Jean's photo."

"The government official?"

"Yes, you said the word _black market_. Could you elaborate any more on that?"

Alice crossed her arms and looked down for a second to try and remember what she had felt from the photo. When the word "black market" popped out to her, it had been such a surprise to hear. The word carried no meaning behind it, but she did get a feeling it was bad. But not bad as in the guy in the photo was involved, but bad as in he was investigating the problem.

"I don't think Luke was involved in the black market if that helps."

L drew his thumb to his bottom lip and looked back over to his screen where all his information was organized. Adding what Alice said about the man, he calculated at least ten other scenarios.

Alice watched L as he concentrated, his brows pushed together and his eyes darting side by side to read the screen in front of him. Alice just stayed silent, knowing L had to go through the process on his own. Even though she wanted to brainstorm with him, she knew there was no way she could keep up with him. She just relished the moment she had to just sit in the same room as him without getting kicked out. It was better than having to count gummy bears on the floor.

L took just a moment to look back at Alice. She was looking down at her hand on her lap, her eyes dazzling with joy. Out of curiosity, he wondered where they joy was coming from. So he looked upon her hand. Right there was the ring he had given her the night Fabron had come over. The diamond refracted the light from the lamp in the room, giving off a tiny prism rainbow on Alice's left cheek. That's when he realized the motive.

"Diamonds…" He exhaled, as if the word was trapped inside of him all day. Alice jumped at the word and hid her hand from L. sweat started to form at her forehead.

"I was going to take it off but…" Alice started to explain herself, thinking L was referring to why she still had on the ring.

"No, not your ring Ace, I'm talking about the motive for the case; the reason behind why Mr. Charles wanted those people dead." L got even more excited. He reached over to his keyboard and started to type away at it furiously. Alice slowly drew back out her hand with the ring and stared down at the shiny diamond.

"Diamonds?" She mumbled to herself, not understanding what L was talking about.

* * *

Thank you for reading and reviewing! 

**jennyz, burryandbunny, YaoiLoverDeathNote1, animeamd, Maria-Chocolate-Chan, brattyteenagewerewolf** (Don't give up on your friend!)**, and Foam Weber **(HA, too easy)**. **Thank you all!**  
**

**DrPepper4Ever: ***Wipes forward with the back of my hand* _Fhew_ I'm so glad that my desperation isn't showing in my writing. Oh wait...forget that part...I mean...*hands on hips* HA HA HA, of course my writing is amazing! -_ Fake Pride_ Anyway, I'm glad that I can keep you entertained**.  
**

**Isshi Urahara: **Don't worry about the cake. I blamed it on Alice, so he doesn't know a thing. As for the candy war, I suggest we use pinatas' as bombs and the gum balls as ammo for mini cannons. Then we grab Light or Misa and test out the bombs and mini cannons. Unless you want to test it on sombody else, I don't mind.**  
**

**Frogata:** YOU ARE GOING TO DRESS AS L AND GO TO A CONVENTION? NO FAIR! 0_o Excuse me, I was just a little too exited there for a second. I really don't want the cake lord to come after me...*Hides under a rock* I hope you have fun at the convention you lucky $%&# **=D** And I do mean that with love. (Sorry, the jealous monster in me sometimes can take over me and make me say bad things.)

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** I know this one! Start with the goose and then go back for the fox. When you have both the fox and goose, go back for the corn, but take the goose with you. Drop the goose off and take the corn over to the fox. Then go back for the goose.

**Alice: **You always seem to put a smile on my face! ^_^. The idea about her parents is actually really good, but I have something planned that's important that involves her parents, so I can't have then meet yet. But soon my pet, soon. (Not implying that you are an animal, though technically humans are...) ANYWAY, I'm sooooo glad you liked that line, because honesty I thought of that very line way before I even knew what I was going to write, and I had to use it somehow, so the candy war sort of stemmed off of that little joke. I am also a Roger fan as well. Hes just the shit**. **I'm also going to move the prank for when Alice gets back, so I hope you don't mind. =D I just think it would be more evilly fun with Alice there. **  
**

**Its Me Not You: **Are you saying that my story had manipulated your house to open and shut doors? 0_o THAT'S FREAKEN AWESOME! **  
**


	20. The Muffin Man is Caught

Hello,

Welcome to the 20th chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

The cookies turned out perfect!

Enjoy the chapter!

(Side Note: I believe this chapter could border between Teen and Mature, but I'm going to let all of you decide that. Just a warning to those who read, and please tell me what you think. Thank you!)

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**The Muffin Man is Caught**

"Diamonds?" Alice looked to L who continued to type away on his computer. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you aware of the Diamond war happening in Africa?"

"No," Alice was hesitant, not really connecting the murder case to a war down in Africa.

"They're called blood diamonds, or diamonds mined inside of a war zone and sold in the black market to fund a rebellion. Places such as Angola or the Republic of Congo have been harvesting and dealing with blood diamonds for quite some time now. It's a vicious process that the miners themselves have to be put through. The rebels that are against the government who need the income the diamonds bring, will even cut off the hands and feet of the miners to maintain control; hence why they call it blood diamonds. " L started to explain. Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had never heard of such a war in her life, and she started to feel guilty for not knowing such an important event; especially since it was still going on. But Alice still couldn't see why L was talking about a war in Africa, and or how it linked in with the case they were working on in France. "Africa produces two thirds of our world's diamonds, and it wouldn't be surprising if half of those turned out to be blood diamonds." L finished explaining the basics.

"So what does that war have to do with the murders in France?"

"Raymond F. Charles works in the black market of blood diamonds. His shipping business covers up the fact that they transport thousands of blood diamonds continuously."

Alice thought it over for a second, going back over her premonitions she had when looking at all those photo's of the victims. The word _black market_ had made sense to her then and another realization had hit her.

"Raymond killed Luke because he was starting to uncover Raymond's business!" Alice stated loudly, excited that she was able to catch on so quickly.

"Very good Ace, Mr. Charles had ordered Mr. Zakhar to kill the government official for that reason. Mr. Jean was a human's rights activist and he was working on the case of the blood Diamonds when he came across Mr. Charles business."

"So then what about the other two in the motel? Why would Raymond want those two dead?"

"Mr. Troilus had a court trail scheduled on the 20th. The one being prosecuted was a man named Makalo Sadiki. He worked for Mr. Charles as a translator and a correspondent to the workshop back in Africa. He was on trial for drug use and robbery." L stared at his computer, still not ready to stop his work, but able to communicate with Alice without throwing himself off track. "After the death of Mr. Troilus, the trial had to be rescheduled for a later date. In that time period, Mr. Sadiki was able to break out of custody and go into hiding."

"So that guy is still out there?" Alice winced, not liking the fact that somebody was able to flee from the police so easily.

"Unfortunately yes."

Alice sighed and leaned back into the armchair. "So then why did Raymond have that woman killed?"

"Mrs. Porter just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." L replied, finishing up the last of his report on the computer. "And Mr. Durand worked at the docks under the orders of Mr. Charles. He was however, uninvolved with the blood diamonds. But since he has been missing for quite some time, I've come to the conclusion that he was shot too and probably thrown into the river."

"But why?"

"Judging by the place that he worked at, I wouldn't be surprised if he overheard Mr. Charles discuss his business plans."

"I can't believe this…" Alice held onto her head with one hand.

"I don't quite find this all to be surprising. Greed in very common in the cases I work on."

"So what about Raymond then? If he was the guy who ordered all those people dead, then why would Victor, his hitman, kill him?"

"There are only two possibilities I have come up with that could explain Mr. Charles death. Either he could not or would not pay Mr. Zakhar, or somebody with a higher rank than Mr. Charles had ordered Mr. Zakhar to kill him."

"I don't like the idea of somebody have more power then Raymond. I would rather have the big bad guy be dead."

"Mr. Charles only owned a portion of the shipping companies sector. There are plenty of those who have a much higher position then him."

"Great, just great," Alice grumbled, throwing her chin into the palm of her hand.

"Well the only part of the case that I have to fulfill is catching the killer, so just forget about the motive." L finally faced Alice.

"But what about Raymond's work at the harbor? Do you think that they are still importing illegal diamonds with Raymond gone?"

"I have no doubt in my mind that they are continuing their business,"

"So then shouldn't we stop it?"

"My job is to catch the killer,"

"But the blood diamonds!"

"The blood diamonds fall under the UN's jurisdiction. I'm not a politician Ace, I am a detective."

Alice was not happy with that answer. She crossed her arms defensively. "How are you going to catch Victor then?" She asked hotly, trying to move on, but in her mind she was still upset with him.

"Don't worry about that, he's an easy target to follow."

Alice gave L a skeptical look. Even though she knew he was an incredible detective, she still had some doubt. But she let it slide for the moment, not wanting to go further into more detail. She could already feel her bones starting to ache.

Stretching a little, she sat up from her chair and twisted her head around to relieve some pressure. She wasn't used to having so much information given to her in just an hour's time. Shaking off all the excess tension, she started to make her way out of the office. L said that he could catch the hitman, so Alice knew there was nothing more she could do. She was useless at that point.

"Ace?" L called out to her before she could leave. Alice turned around to see what he wanted, still a little angry with him. "Thank you," He sincerely thanked her. Alice was surprised to hear L say that. Her anger evaporated in a flash. Ever since she had met him, she always figured he had egotistic pride. He thought highly of himself, so Alice assumed he would never look to somebody else for help. With a sideways smirk, she nodded her head over to him to acknowledge that she heard. L was satisfied with that and went straight back to work, typing at his computer once again. Alice smiled even wider as she left out of the office, feeling like she just had experienced something nobody else ever had.

* * *

Alice finished putting on her mini pencil skirt and cardigan peach pink sweater with a white undershirt. Throwing her hair up in a messy pony tail, she made sure to use her sparkly hair bands so they stood out more. She also put on some fake glasses with brown trimming to make herself look more professional. It had only been ten minutes since she had left L's office and she was already bored out of her mind. So to keep herself entertained, she decided it was time to play her favorite game, _extremely new persona_. To play her game, one had to dress up as somebody new and give oneself a new name. Then create a back-story to go with the new character. When a new persona was complete, one had to use that new persona in public. Since she knew she couldn't leave the hotel, she was just going to have to find a place in the hotel to play her game. Luckily there was a bar on the 20th floor and that was the perfect environment for her newly created persona.

Checking herself out in the mirror, she made sure she looked the part of a working woman. Her name was going to be Stella Mathews, the hard working office girl. Looking down at her ring, she removed it from her ring finger and moved it to a different one to make sure she was single. She had to be single for her new persona since Stella Mathews recently broke up with her boyfriend, and the bar was her way of recouping. Smiling at her reflection, Alice smoothed out the wrinkles in the skirt and checked her makeup for any smears. She nodded with satisfaction when she found every part of her to her liking.

When she was done with the preparations, she made her way over to the office to tell L where she was going to be. Upon entering the office, she found L just hanging up his cell phone, mostly likely just talking to the officers about the case. L looked up to find Alice wearing something different than before. Her pencil skirt was short and her shirt hanged low. Never in his life had he ever met somebody who was more confident with their body than Alice.

"Hey, I'm going down to the bar," She spoke first, just wanting to get straight to the point.

"Before you go, please take the ear piece and pendant." L ordered, pulling out the little velvet blue box. He figured it was better for her to do something other than distract him from his work. Alice took the box and took out the ear piece and pedant with a frown.

"I'm not leaving the hotel,"

"Yes, which is why I'm not sending someone with you. But I still need to have complete communication with you; especially if you're going to be around alcohol."

Alice sighed but agreed with him anyway. Even though she didn't like being spied on, she decided to look at the bright side. L was going to get to hear her play her game and she knew how to put on a show. It was sort of like having a mini audience watching her perform, and that only made her more excited.

Sticking the ear piece in her ear and the pendant on her shirt, she waved goodbye to L and made her way out the office, glad to know that she was going to be away from the case to clear her mind. Detective work was hard and she wasn't one for working longs hours.

* * *

When Alice reached the elevator, she took in a deep breath to calm herself down. She had to prepare for her performance. Since there was going to be an audience, there was a lot more at stake. Adjusting her glasses, she got on the elevator and pressed the 20th floor. The door slowly shut and enclosed her in the mirrored room by herself.

"Do not try to cause any trouble Ace." L urged over her ear piece. Alice rolled her eyes.

"You sound as if I was planning something."

"Please Ace," L urged again. He was responsible for her and the last thing he wanted to do was get her out of trouble while he was so close to catching the killer.

"I'm not going to, calm down. At least I'm not going to try. I can't really guarantee anything though,"

L wasn't very happy with that answer, but it was the best answer he was going to get. When the elevator reached the 20th floor, Alice could feel her heart start to race. The thrill of the game was already affecting her and she was more than ready to test out her acting skills. Putting on a serious face, the elevator doors opened up for her and she walked out calmly.

The entrance into the restaurant/bar was decorated with dim lighting and dark reds and purples. The lamps were tinted a deep golden yellow and the hosts front desk was a rich red oak. The restaurant was almost empty since it was just the afternoon, though the bar on the very end had one or two people. The host at the front desk was a young woman with black silky hair and tanned skin. Her oval dark eyes were exotic and it was clear to Alice she was just chosen for the job because of her good looks.

"_Bonjour Mademoiselle,_" The host spoke to Alice with a coy smile. Alice lost focus for a moment, forgetting that she was in France. Not everyone there was going to know that she did not speak French. She recovered quickly though, knowing that she had to focus on her new persona.

"Good afternoon, could you show me to the bar please?" Alice smiled back.

"Yes, of course," The woman spoke perfect English. Alice wasn't surprised in the least. The hotel had to have the best employees to run such extravagance. The woman led Alice to the bar in the back. The bar had the exact same lighting. It was dimly lit with the bar table stretching out from the wall. Behind it was an older man who probably had been working there for many years. His hair was gray but was styled back with gel to make him look more regal. He had wrinkles around his eyes and forehead, but that still didn't stop his friendly smile.

"Here you are," The devilishly beautiful woman said to Alice, pointing to the bar ahead. Alice thanked her and watched her walk away, only slightly jealous of how nice the girls butt was. Shaking away her thoughts, she turned back to the bar and adjusted her glasses. Looking more closely, she wanted to scope out who else was there. There was of course the bartender behind his bar cleaning one of the glasses with a rag. In one of the chairs at the bar sat a lone man with his back turned to Alice. All she could see was the long black trench coat and messy brown hair on top. It was almost like every start of a scene in a movie that had a bar. The bartender would clean quietly while a young handsome man would drink alone, probably after having such a hard day at work or had just caught his girlfriend cheating. Alice couldn't stop the smile growing on her face. It was all turning out too perfect.

Adjusting her glasses one last time she started to make her way over to the bar. The man sitting alone turned slightly, looking up to the bartender and giving Alice a better view of his face. Alice stopped immediately and gasped as her heart jumped in her chest. She quickly ran behind a wall that led to the bathrooms, her heart racing so fast that she thought she was going to have a heart attack. L heard her gasp and grew concerned.

"What is it Ace?"

Alice took a second to try and catch her breath, though she was finding it difficult to do so. She was breathing in and out just as fast as her heart was beating.

"Ace," L tried again with more force.

"M..mu..muffin!" Alice stuttered out, turning onto her stomach to the wall.

"Excuse me?"

Alice inched over a bit and peaked once more to try and see the man again. Her pupil's dilated into tiny specks when she saw his face. She gasped and hid behind the wall for protection.

"It's the muffin!" She whispered loudly into the pendant.

"I don't have time for games Ace, so unless it's something important then please leave me alone,"

Alice stopped her shaking for a moment to give L a puzzled look, even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"Did I not tell you about my secret code word?"

"Secret code word?" L was hesitant to repeat.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You know that Russian killer guy Victor?"

L rubbed his forehead methodically. "Yes, I am aware of who he is."

"Well instead of saying _the Russian_, I decided it would be safer if I just referred to him as _the muffin_. Pretty clever huh?"

L was silent on the other end. Was it him, or did Alice just say that she had spotted the killer?

"Ace…are you telling me that Victor is sitting at the bar?"

Alice peaked around the corner again to make sure of what she saw. As soon as she saw those piercing green eyes reflect off his vodka glass, she hid behind the wall again and nodded her head.

"That's him alright. I would never forget a face like that." Alice bit her bottom lip. She hated herself for thinking he looked better in real life then on the photo.

"Ace, this better not be a joke."

"Why would I joke about a serial killer in a bar?"

"Don't comedic stories usually start out with unimaginable people entering a bar?"

"I'm being serious _Theo_!"

"Alright, calm down Ace, let me get one of the security cameras up on my screen."

Alice looked again, only that time to see if she could spot a camera anywhere along with ceiling. Indeed there was one right in the corner, giving a great view of the guests who sat at the counter. Alice let out a sigh of relief and started to grow more confidant with herself when she knew L was going to be able to see. Feeling her heart rate drop, she adjusted her shirt and fixed her hair. Since she wasn't much help with the case before, she decided at the point she had to do something. She was already there anyway in disguise, so she might as well use it to her advantage. It couldn't have been that hard anyway. It would be like making a cake, only that time she knew not to use pancake mix. She figured she was safe anyway with a bartender and L watching.

"I'm going in." Alice smirked, pulling up her skirt a little more to make her legs look longer.

"Wait, what?" L was thrown off by the girls' dramatic change in confidence. Alice pulled her cardigan down a little more to show off a tiny bit of cleavage.

"I'm going to try and get him to confess those murders. That's what all the late night shows with detectives try and do with the bad guys. It's the best evidence you could have."

"Ace no! Do not get near that man!"

"Too late, I already made my skirt shorter,"

"ACE!" L got louder, which surprised Alice. She had never heard L raise his voice. But shrugging it off, she pulled out her ear piece, not wanting to hear L anymore. She didn't want to have any distractions. Since she didn't have any pockets, she stuffed the ear piece down her shirt. It was the extra pocket that she was always thankful for. But she kept the pendant on so L would be able to hear Victor confess his crimes.

When Alice was ready, she immediately made her way over to the bar, not even giving it a second thought. The bartender was first to speak.

"What would you like _Mademoiselle_?" the bartender asked her kindly as she took a seat to Victors right. Even though she would be cornered between him and the wall, she still wanted to make sure she had a clear view of the restaurant behind him in case somebody came in.

"Water for now," She smiled back to the bartender. She needed to stay sober for the mission. Victor looked over to the woman who just sat beside him. Alice noticed Victor eying her up and down, checking out her every curve as she placed her chin onto the back of her hand. She could already smell the alcohol on him, which only made her job easier. If he was drunk, then she could get him to confess a lot sooner.

"Why come to a bar if you don't drink?" The man beside Alice spoke up in a rich deep Russian accident. Alice shivered from his voice. It wasn't very often she would talk casually with serial killers, so it took a moment for her to respond.

"I find there is more to a bar other than alcohol," She smirked back, watching as a glass of water was placed in front of her. The hitman caught on quickly to what she was implying.

"My name is Victor," He held out his hand.

"Stella," Alice replied, grabbing his hand to shake. But instead of shaking his hand like she thought she would, Victor pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed it lightly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled up at her. Alice cringed internally, still smiling on the outside to keep up her new persona. The last thing she wanted was for a serial killer to kiss her hand. But she had to stay true to her word, and she was going to get him to confess no matter what.

"So are you staying at this hotel?" Alice decided to jump right in. When he let go over her hand she immediately brought it back to her lap and secretly wiped it on her skirt to get rid of the germs.

"You're very abrasive aren't you? I like that in a woman," the Russian laughed to himself. He then took a sip of his liquor, his cheeks turning a light pink. Alice could see that he was already buzzed. "But no, I'm not staying at this hotel. I just came here for the bar. I've heard that this particular bar served good vodka, and I must say they were not kidding. Only in Russia could you find anything this good," He kept on laughing. Alice continued to keep up her smile, though it was getting harder for her to do. Even though the guy had incredibly good looks, Alice determined that he was nothing but an idiot. Any attraction she had had for him from before was gone. Not that she had any in the first place…

"So what brings you to France?"

"I'm here for work," The guy chuckled one last time, setting down his empty glass with ice.

"Work?" Alice purred in return to try and sound interested.

Victor only smiled more, pleased with himself that he was getting so much attention. "Yes, I run my own business,"

"Oh, a big shot," Alice humored him. That pleased Victor more. Victor turned in his seat to face her completely. Since he was confident that the woman in front of him was interested, he had nothing else to hide.

"I could tell you more about my job if you like? Do you have a room here we could continue this conversation?"

Alice froze for a second, knowing full well that that would be a bad idea. She had to make sure that L could see her.

"How about I buy you another drink first?" She offered, keeping up her cool. On the inside she was panicking a little, hoping that her acting was doing its job. The bartender nodded his head, overhearing Alice's offer.

"Another vodka coming up. Excuse me while I go and grab another bottle from the back."

_Shit._

Alice started to sweat when she saw the bartender leave. That was the only other person in the room keeping her sane. She had no idea what L was doing, so she couldn't rely on him one-hundred percent. Taking in small breaths through her nose, she tried to concentrate on getting a confession.

"That is very kind of you," Victor smirked over to Alice, placing a hand on one of her legs. Alice wanted to jump up right then and there and kick him in the balls, but she restrained herself. She did quietly curse to herself for letting her legs be more exposed. His hand was hot, which only made Alice gag on the inside. Shivering a little, she continued on.

"So tell me more about your job,"

Victor's cheeks flashed with pink, his drunken self starting to take over more. "It's a good paying job that relies on a derivative market," He started, placing his other hand on her hip and scooting closer. Alice's heart started to go into full panic mode. She quickly got up from her chair and tried to move away from the drunken serial killer. Victor took it as an opening for himself and pushed her against the wall. "I get to meet a lot of different people and travel around the world." He whispered in her ear, pressing his body up against hers. She tried to push him away, but her arms were trapped between his chest and hers. Both his hands were on her hips and using his thumbs, he stroked her lightly. He was so tightly pressed up against her she thought she was going to stop breathing. She couldn't even speak she was so terrified. Victor took the beating of her heart as another good sign, thinking that she was enjoying it all. On the contrary, Alice was screaming bloody murder inside of her head. The hot air from his breath blowing against her ear only sent shivers of disgust. More than ever at that point did she want to call out for help.

The worst part about the position she was in was the feeling on her thigh. Even though she should have not been hoping for a serial killer to have a gun in his pocket, she would have rather had him been armed then the other possibility. The thought only made her want to throw up.

"So why don't we finish this conversation in privet?" Victor chuckled once more into her ear, pressing his cheek against hers. The beard only scratched her cheek. Alice closed her eyes tightly, grinding her teeth together to hold in her scream.

All of a sudden Alice heard hurried footsteps. Next came the sound of metal hitting skin as Victors entire body vibrated. Letting go of her hips, he dropped to his knees and slammed his head into the ground with a _thud_, his eyes moving to the back of his head. He was knocked out cold. Behind him stood a row of officers in full uniform pointing their hand guns down at the unconscious man. In front of those officers and right in front of Alice was L holding a hand gun in his right hand, dropping it back to his side after just hitting Victor in the back of his neck. Alice stared at him with wide eyes, almost as if it was all just a dream. She couldn't believe what had just happened in front of her.

"Well I guess I won't be shooting him then." L spoke first as if everything was normal. Alice still could not find any words to say. L looked back at all the men behind him and took charge. "Take this man downtown and make sure to restrain him properly. He's very good at finding ways to escape." He ordered. The men gave L a _yes sir_ and grabbed Victor from off the floor, making sure to handcuff his arms behind him. As the officers continued their task, L turned back to Alice who was still frozen against the wall. "Ace," He called out to her. Alice moved her eyes onto him. He looked calm, which bothered Alice. She was just felt up by a murderer and L didn't look the least bit angry or flustered. He showed no emotion what so ever. "Go straight back to the room and don't talk to anyone." He ordered sternly. Alice nodded her head and gulped. Even though his face showed no emotion, Alice clearly heard it all in his voice. He was pissed.

* * *

Sitting quietly on the couch in the living room, Alice poked at a piece of cake on her lap with a fork. She had already eaten half of it and her stomach couldn't take anymore. She thought the cake would make her feel better, but all it did was make her more sick. L hadn't returned to the room yet, which only brought more butterflies to her stomach. She knew she was in trouble, but the time that she had to think about what she had done, she had come up with a great argument. If it wasn't for her, L would have never caught Victor by surprise. Even though she was touched inappropriately, she wasn't hurt in the least. Everything turned out perfectly in the end, so he couldn't possibly be mad at her.

Nodding to herself, she pumped herself up more for the battle. She set the cake down on the coffee table and stood up to stretch. That's when she heard the door knob turn. Sucking in air quickly she looked to the door in panic. L walked in seconds later, his floppy black hair bouncing as he stepped into the room. Alice watched him like a hawk as he shut the door behind him. When L turned to look at Alice, Alice chickened out the instant he made eye contact. She dropped her gaze to the floor and swung her hands behind her back and fiddled with her fingers. Shame was clearly written just above her head.

"I want you to pack you things immediately. You and I will be boarding the 7'oclock flight tonight back to England."

A spark lit in Alice's heart.

"But what about the blood diamonds?" She grew serious. L wasn't hearing any of it.

"Do as I say Ace,"

It was those exact words that Alice hated the most. She heard enough of that from her parents and the last person she ever wanted to hear it from was L. Just because the killer was caught did not mean the job was done, and even though going back to the Wammy House would have been a relief for her, she couldn't just let the case go. Down at the harbor was probably a ship full of blood diamonds and Alice knew she couldn't just let that slide.

"We can't leave yet! We have to stop those ships!"

L turned away from her and headed into the office, ignoring her outburst completely. Alice growled over at L and followed him.

"_Damnit_ L, listen to me!" She shouted as she burst into the office.

"ENOUGH!" L shouted in return, his back turned to her since he could not face her. Never in his life had he ever felt so frustrated. Alice stopped immediately, taken aback by his eruption. She never even knew L could yell like that. "Why should I listen to you?" He then started to pick up again, only sounding a lot calmer. Alice pursed her lips together, her glare still piercing his back. "You clearly don't respect me enough to listen to me, so why should I have to listen to you?"

"You wouldn't have caught Victor without me!" Alice became enraged. Even though she knew that statement wasn't true, she couldn't help but say it anyway. She was so furious with him that she couldn't even think straight. Her argument was flawed.

"You could have been killed!"

Alice held in her breath. Her mouth was pressed together hard and she could feel a lump start to form in her throat. L's hands were in fists, and they were shaking lightly. All his life as a detective nobody had ever disobeyed him. His word was final and nobody ever went against him. But then Alice came along and changed that. Every order he had given her, she had fought him on. L assumed that her disobedient ways were only a phase, but it was clear to L at that point that there was no end. She was the type of person L was usually against. Persistent and hardheaded, the traits usually found in the people he had to bring to justice. After seeing Alice try and outwit a serial killer, L knew he had made a mistake in bringing her to France. It was the first time in his life that a situation almost went out of his control. He thought he would be able to handle her, but in the end Watari was right.

"So that's it then…we're just going to leave and let those blood diamonds be shipped around the world. Tell me L…" Alice held up her hand with the ring on it. The diamond glinted in the afternoon light that shined in through the window. "Where do you think this diamond came from?" Her hand shook as she held it up to him. Her vision was starting to go fuzzy as she felt her eyes start to sting from the water. L didn't look back to her, knowing that if he were to face her, he would probably not have to the strength to hold back. He was too busy cursing at himself for miscalculating Alice's personality.

"Go and pack you things Ace." L had calmed himself down, not caring anymore as to what Alice had to say.

Alice pulled the ring off her finger tossed it onto the floor with the broken pieces of skittle and gummy bears. She was through dealing with L's straight forward tactics. If he wasn't going to do anything about the ship, then Alice was just going to have to finish the job. Turning on her heel, she raced out of the office and out of the hotel room, leaving behind L in her tracks. She didn't even take a second glance to look back because she knew she only had a little window of opportunity to do what she wanted to do. Pulling out her phone as she reached the elevator, she dialed the Wammy House. When somebody finally picked up on the third ring, it was the exact man whom she wanted to speak with.

"Ace, what's up?"

"Matt, I'm ready to tell you where I am."

* * *

Thank you everyone for reading! Just a heads up people, the blood diamond wars are real and still go on today. Send all those who need it, a happy thought.

**jennyz:** Yes, you may have a cookie *hands over* They are dark chocolate chip. Sorry about the no fluff yet, but don't worry. The romance will come, just give it some time.

**Alice:** I want a Mello chocolate bar! Maybe I could steal one...or I could get Alice (not you, my made up character...unless you wanted to try...) to do it...HOLD UP! Just got an idea, thank you for the help (Can't explain, but you'll see). Anyway, I hope this chapter helped clear up the case a little. I tried to explain it as thoroughly as I could, but it was L talking, so I couldn't be too frank. And I agree, ants would be awesome if they had lasers. Also, have I mentioned how wonderful your name is? Well it is, and I hope your leg feels better by now.

**YaoiLoverDeathNote1:** Was the wedding in Los Vegas? If so, you should tell me how it went. **=D**

**tenshi-no-akuma-81:** I agree with you about rushing into romance. I think it's too boring to have couples fall in love so soon. Its not natural really. I'm so glad you like her. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

**Isshi Urahara:** Perfect, light it is. I hope this chapter gave you a surprise.** =)**

**Foam Weber:** You know it's funny, I found it easier to use the word derivative then I did with pancake...Got any more word challenges?

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Oh this one was easy to figure out, it's sleep. Muahaha! **  
**

**burry and bunny: **Yay review! Mustaches would win any fight. The next chapter I think will satisfy your need for Matt, Mello, and Near. **  
**


	21. Taking the Case into her own Hands

_*waves*_ HI!

This is chapter 21 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_.

(Again, this chapter could border between Teen and Mature, but that's purely based on Mello's foul mouth.)

So enjoy the chapter! **^_^**

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**Taking the Case into her own Hands**

L started to pull on his hair as he rubbed his head back and forth. Sitting at his desk alone, he was staring down at his phone, trying to come up with a better idea than the one he should have been doing. He should have been calling Watari, but he was too proud to say that he was wrong. He knew eventually Watari would know about it, but L still had time to fix it all. When Alice had left the room, L didn't even care where she was going. He was so upset with her then that he wasn't even worried about where she would go. But at that point he was regretting every word he said to her. It was his second mistake to let her go without tracking her right away. He gave her too much of a head start and it was too late for him to use her cell phone to try and locate her. She had already called Matt and made some sort of deal. In that deal, Matt had in no time disabled all of the devises on her phone that allowed L to know where she was. L was going to have to re-question his idea about Matt being his third successor, but for the time being he had to try and find a way to find her. Luckily he was the greatest detective in the world and not even the three back at the Wammy house could stop him from finding her.

* * *

Alice tugged on a wire to try and get it out of the card board box. Fabron stood right behind her, watching her as she pulled the last wire out of the foam pellets. After Alice had called up Matt and told him everything about the case along with what happened between her and L, Matt didn't even think twice about helping her. Of course she did leave out the parts about her being psychic since nobody at the Wammy house besides Watari and L knew, but that was beside the point. She had also called Fabron and told him about L, who insisted that she come to his apartment and stay. She wasn't surprised that Fabron didn't care that she lied to him. The drama was just too sweet for him to even be mad at her. He absolutely loved that fact that she was in on a secret mission and both him and Alice were going to finish it behind the back of the greatest detective in the world.

"How the hell do you expect me to set this up?" Alice talked into her head set. Matt was on the other line, guiding her through the process of trying to hook all the wires to a laptop he had sent to her. Alice didn't question how Matt had gotten Fabron's address, nor did she care why the package had come so quickly. All she cared about then was taking down that ship and stopping those blood diamonds from being distributed around the world.

"You need to hook the yellow wire to the little black box," Matt tired to dumb it down for her.

"The wire is not yellow, this is clearly red." Alice grumbled as she held up a red wire.

"No Ace, that wire is for the plug in the wall."

"Then why is there a blue wire?"

"Oh honey, give me that head set!" Fabron took charge, taking the head set off her and putting it on himself. "Alright mystery man, tell me what to do first."

Matt was hesitant to respond, but he was quick to know that it was Alice's friend who took the phone from her. After learning where Alice went to stay, he had read up on everything about her friend Fabron. He wasn't surprised at what he found. He always figured Alice had interesting friends.

"The yellow wire hooks onto the little black box. That will be her camera."

"Okay, got it." Fabron hooked the wire on. Alice watched in amazement. She was glad Fabron was there to help her. Technology wasn't another strong point for her.

"Next, the red wire will be your electrical cord. Put that into an outlet and hook that onto the laptops battery."

Fabron did as he said, and plugged the cord into the wall. He then set the laptop down on his kitchen counter so both Alice and he could see the screen while sitting on their stools.

"The blue wire will hook to your router which will in turn connect you to the internet. There should be a disk that will give you a program I've created that will provide you with complete privacy while you're online."

"Oh yes, we have the disk." Fabron smiled, grabbing the disk from Alice's hand. When he was finished putting all the wires in their place and the router was turned on, Fabron put the disk in and waited for it to start up. "So I never did catch how you know my dear Alice. Or should I be calling her Ace now?"

"You need to call me Ace," Alice answered him. Even though she was on her own and didn't have to listen to L, she still knew that her name was important to her and that she had to stick with her code name.

"Sorry, but I can't really tell you much about me. But you can call me Yoshi if you like." Matt spoke on the other line.

"Fine, Yoshi it is. Do I get to have a nick name?"

"Yoshi, who's Yoshi?" Alice wondered, not being able to hear what the two were talking about.

"You can have your own nick name if you like." Matt allowed, not seeing the harm in it.

"It's going to be Roxie, and yes, I do mean Renée Zellweger's character from the movie _Chicago_. Roxie will be my nick name."

"Oh, I love that movie," Alice added in her two cents. Matt just shook his head, starting to doubt why he was helping in the first place. Then he remembered how board he was before, and let go of his doubts.

"One of my favorites too," Fabron laughed with Alice.

"Alright you two, has the disk finished loading yet?"

Fabron looked down at the screen and watched the last of the bar fill up, declaring itself done with a _beep_.

"It's ready," Fabron became more giddy.

"Good, now an Icon with a little picture of a iguana should have popped up. I need you to click on that and enter in a code."

Alice watched the icon appear. She pointed to it with wonder.

"Why is there a tiny iguana on the computer?"

Fabron clicked on the icon, ignoring Alice's remark, and watched as a black box opened with an empty space for something to be typed into.

"What's the code?"

"Why do you people always ignored me?" Alice mumbled to herself. Matt was oblivious to the girls aggravation.

"87DG85KBLP0005CGBNMK"

Fabron grew a little winded. "Why couldn't you have chosen something more normal?"

"What do you mean normal?" Matt was offended. He thought the code was easy to remember.

"Normal as is your birthday or your favorite brand of lipstick."

Matt only rubbed his forehead. "Sorry, next time I'll try to take into account my cosmetic products as a possibly for a password." he just played along. Fabron seemed satisfied with that answer as he typed in the last of the code. When he was finished, he pressed ENTER and watched as the screen turned all black. Seconds later, Matt appeared on the desktop, goggles in all.

"Oh hey! I can see you!" Alice pointed to the screen with a goofy grin. Matt waved to her in return; his red messy hair was just as messy as ever. Fabron pushed in front of Alice too get a better look at the man who referred to himself as Yoshi.

"You look a lot sexier then you sound." He smirked.

"Thank you?" Matt was a little embarrassed as he scratched his cheek with one finger.

"Why do you have to try and hit on every guy I know?" Alice shoved Fabron away to relieve Matt from the gay man's stare. Matt was thankful for Alice's pushy personality. Fabron frowned, but didn't let her get to him. Taking off the head set and fixing his crooked caller, he stood up straight and allowed the two to continue their conversation. "Where are the others?"

"They're coming, don't worry." Matt assured. Alice was referring to Mello and Near who were stuck finishing up their lessons.

"This is all just so exciting. I feel like Eva Green in the James bond movie _Casino Royale_. We're going to take down some bad guys' right?" Fabron started to get more hyped up.

"Eva? I thought you wanted your nick name to be Roxie?"

Fabron only scoffed in return. "Trust me hun, I'm a Roxie. I would much rather shoot a man then run the financial business of a secret agent. Plus, Roxie gets to wear more sparkles."

"Are you really taking this seriously?" Matt just had to ask.

Both of them look to Matt with shock. "Of course we are!" they both said at the same time.

"I always take my sequined dresses seriously!" Fabron added on.

"No Fabron, he was talking about the blood diamond case,"

"Darling, it's Roxie, and yes I am too. I refuse to have blood diamonds on my dresses. We have to take care of that ship!"

Matt sighed while rubbing his face into his gloved hand. Even though Fabron's reasoning was a bit off, Matt still accepted his dedication to wanting to take out the ship with the diamonds. And to much of Matt's relief, Mello entered his room, causing both Alice and Fabron to look in the background of the screen.

"And who is this?" Fabron was first to ask.

Mello looked to the camera at Alice and Fabron with surprise. Matt answered Fabron quickly.

"This is Princess Peach,"

"The fuck it is you asshole!" Mello growled at Matt while sitting in the chair next to him.

"Such a potty mouth," Fabron gasped.

"You will only refer to me as M," Mello tried to save his self respect. Alice wasn't going to let him.

"Whatever you say Peachy."

Mello only sent her the evil eye, knowing full well that it was too late to argue. Later he was just going to have to get back at Matt.

"So where is Toad then?" Alice wondered, thinking of Near while using a name that would fit with the other two.

"We don't need him." Mello answered her, catching on to the name.

"I doubt that," Near chimed in from the door behind them. Both Matt and Mello looked back to see Near enter into the room, wearing his all white as usual.

"Okay, so let me see if I can remember correctly," Fabron started up. "Your Yoshi," he pointed to Matt. "Your Princess Peach," He pointed to Mello. Mello pinched the bridge of his nose and clenched his teeth. "And you must be Toad." He pointed to Near last.

"Toad?" Near was confused.

"Just go with it," Matt waved it off.

"Why haven't you hit on Peach or Toad yet?" Alice went off topic, looking to Fabron.

"They are clearly under age sweetie,"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Mello made a face.

"How can you tell?" Alice was amazed, ignoring Mello completely.

"Honey it's a gift. I've trained myself to know these things."

"Brilliant," Alice applauded her friend.

"Are we still talking about the blood diamonds?" Near asked hesitantly.

"Oh sorry, Ace why don't you explain again about the situation," Fabron let Alice take the stage. Alice accepted gracefully.

"First off, L and I already caught the serial Killer."

"That Russian assassin right?" Mello asked. Alice nodded her head.

"Even though the killer has been caught, there is still a shipping company that was owned by a guy named Raymond that is still operating down at the Harbor. L doesn't think it's our problem to take care of it, but I think we can still do something about it."

"How do you suppose we stop a ship from importing and exporting illegal carbon allotrope's?" Near was skeptical. He already somewhat agreed with L on the fact that it wasn't their place to try and stop it. But he knew better than to say that out loud. He would never rat on Alice in fear that she would get back at him. He was far more afraid of her than he was L.

Alice didn't really understand the last part of Nears question, but she knew the answer to how they were going to take down the ship.

"Well how else would you stop a ship?" Alice smiled, having the answered already, but waiting to see if anybody else knew.

"Drop its anchor?" Matt shrugged, not really knowing where Alice was going.

"A canon. We use a canon!" She smiled with pride as if it was the best solution in the world. Mello did not see it in the same way.

"I'm sorry, did you just say a canon? As in, a weapon that shoots iron balls the size of watermelons?" He gave Alice a bewildered look.

"Of course! I should have known that!" Fabron slapped his knee.

"That's how you take out a ship silly, you use a canon." Alice said as a matter of fact.

"You make it sound as if it would be easy." Matt tried to be reasonable.

"It will be. Just shoot the ship and it will sink along with all the illegal diamonds. Problem solved."

"Where are you going to get a canon?" Mello scoffed, not really taking Alice seriously.

"From Mario and Luigi," Alice smiled even more, thinking about Tinker and Henchman. She remembered her last conversation with them over the phone about the old world canon they had recently built. The three boys didn't have to guess who she was referring too, knowing full well who had recently built a canon. They all groaned at once, looking away from the screen and covering their eyes with one hand. Even Near had done so, stumped by the fact that Alice sounded so serious about taking out a ship using a canon.

"This is a bad idea." He finally found his voice. Sadly Mello found himself agreeing with Near. Matt on the other hand was trying to make more sense of the matter.

"Okay, let's just say that we were to help you with this plan. What would you need us to do?" Matt tried to humor her. The other two boys looked to Matt with disbelief, not even wanting to give Alice a slimmer of hope.

"I would need your help to try and avoid L of course, but I would also need your help locating the harbor where they keep the boat."

"Do you honestly think you could sneak into a Shipyard and blow up a ship without anyone catching you?" Mello just couldn't let it go. She was making it sound like the plan would be easy, which in reality would be far too dangerous; especially for an inexperienced girl and a more than flamboyant and obviously homosexual man. Mello wasn't stupid; he noticed the foundation and lipstick on Fabron.

"You obviously don't know her very well do you?" Fabron stepped in, right on Alice's side. "If this girl can pull off buying twenty pairs of sling back shoes in less than 30 minutes on a black Friday after 5'oclock in the morning, then there is nothing she can't do,"

"I don't see a logical argument in that statement." Near twisted a part of his hair.

"Well then you obviously have never been shopping on a black Friday in the early morning at a shoe store."

"Listen guys, I need you to trust me on this." Alice pleaded, ignoring Fabron's attempts to help her case. The three boys looked to each other in silence, internally all thinking the exact same thing. They all knew that there was only two ways the plan could turn out. The first possibility was that they could ultimately stop a part of a worldwide illegal trading business, but on the other hand, they could get Alice killed. They knew that the people who work under a black market were not willing to spare anyone who got in their way. Just like Raymond hadn't when he hired a hitman to kill all those people. If Alice was caught, they had no doubts in their mind that she would be shot and killed.

Alice didn't see it as a death wish. She knew she could pull it off, and with the help of Fabron and the three boys, she had no doubt her mind that she could take out that boat and stop the illegal trade. The only part of the plan that worried her was L. She had to be cautious about him, otherwise her plans would be ruined.

"Please," She pleaded again. Matt rubbed the back of his neck, going over in his mind on how he could make the plan work. Alice was dead set on the idea and he knew there was no way he could talk her out of it.

"Wait just a second," He then raised his hand, clicking a button on his laptop to mute their side so Alice and Fabron couldn't hear him. Both Mello and Near looked to Matt to see what he wanted to say. They knew that Matt would be the first to cave into Alice demands, and they already had an idea of what he was going say. Alice and Fabron watched the screen, hoping that one of them could read their lips as they spoke.

"I think the plan could work," Matt began, facing his friend and Near. Mello couldn't believe what his comrade was saying.

"You're kidding right? Did you not hear her? She said she wanted to blow up a ship!"

"I understand that, but if we tell her we won't help, she's just going to go and do it all by herself."

"If Alice were to try and stop that ship on her own, she would most defiantly be killed." Near stated, looking away from the two off into the distance. Mello glared over to Near, but looked back at his friend with doubt.

"So how could this possibly work?"

Matt crossed his arms and smiled over at Mello, an idea already formulating.

On the other hand, Alice and Fabron had no idea what was going on. They watched all three boys talk to each other, Mello looking the most aggravated.

"What do you think they are talking about?" Fabron whispered over to Alice. Alice suddenly formed a wicked smile.

"Watch this," She snickered, getting a great idea. As the boys talked, she decided she would add the words in. First it was Matt speaking. Coughing a little to clear her throat she prepared to make a deep voice. "Peach, you've been cheating on me with Toad haven't you?"

Next she prepared for Mello speaking, making her voice sound squeaky and childlike. "I'm terribly sorry, but you just don't satisfy me anymore."

Fabron covered his mouth to hold in his laughter. Alice started to speak for Matt once again. "But we were perfect together! Just think of all the happy memories we made when we were honeymooning in Jamaica!"

Fabron couldn't hold it in any longer and started to laugh out loud hysterically. Alice joined him, unable to continue on with the fake monologue. The three boys stopped their conversation and turned to the two who they could clearly hear over their speakers. Just because Matt had muted their side, didn't mean that he couldn't hear them. Mello looked like he was about to have a vein explode on his head. Slamming his fist on the keyboard, Mello pushed the key to allow himself to speak to them.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Alice and Fabron screamed with terror, not realizing that they had just been caught. Covering both their hearts, they looked to the screen in horror.

"I thought I was going to die!" Fabron dramatically exhaled, taking in deep breaths.

"Geez Princess, give us a heart attack why don't you." Alice tried to calm herself down as well. Matt butted in before Mello could yell again.

"We are going to help you."

Alice paused her hard breathing, repeating Matt's words in her head over again. Then a triumphant smile took over her face.

"Thank you!" She squealed with delight., throwing her hands up into the air.

"Oh this is perfect!" Fabron squealed with her. "I've got _the_ perfect outfits for the mission. Wait right here." He then rushed out of the room like a speeding bullet. Alice watched her friend leave with amusement.

"Anyway…" Matt spoke again, not really interested in what Fabron was going to come out with. "You two will need to follow our instructions carefully. For the plan to work, you will need to do exactly as we say, got it?"

Alice nodded her head vigorously, not really caring about the conditions. She was just happy that they were going to help her.

By the time Fabron came back, he had in one arm an old medieval dress with a bodice that was in the shape of a corset and a skirt that went to the knees and puffed out just a little at the waist. It was antique yellow with a large white floral pattern. In his other arm he had black cotton pants with a very lose white puffy long sleeved shirt. Over that there was a brown leather vest strung together using fat pieces of leather. All three boys gapped at the two outfits. Alice was right with them, staring at the dress as if it had a disease.

"Ta-da!" Fabron sang, holding up the two outfits as if he found gold.

"Good lord," Alice couldn't stop herself from saying.

"I know, they are fabulous right?"

"I'm sorry, what are you going to use those for?" Matt asked, trying to get a better look at them. He was smiling, finding the scene to be incredibly amusing.

"For when we sink the ship silly," He replied as if it was obvious.

Near could not see any reason why they would need to dress up to sink a ship. "I don't believe Ace would be able to move properly in that dress." Near tried to come to Alice's aid. Mello was thinking more clearly.

"Forget that, they shouldn't be wearing that in the first place. They both would stand out like a sore thumb!" He fought.

"She won't be wearing the dress. The dress is for me." Fabron declared, holding the dress up to himself. Alice sighed with relief.

"That's good."

Mello started to rub the temples on his forehead. He was already starting to develop a headache. Matt started to get worried. Fabron sounded serious.

"Don't you think it would be better if you two wore all black?"

"Absolutely not!" Fabron was offended. "Ace, you said we were going to use a canon to take down the ship right?" Alice nodded her head, already seeing where Fabron was going to take it. "Then we must dress the part for it."

"I'm sorry, I do not see a correlation between those cloths and shooting a ship with a cannon…" Near twirled his hair some more.

"Hello? Haven't you ever heard of _Pirates of the Caribbean_? If we shoot the ship with a canon, then we must dress up like pirates. The two greatest pirates of all time are of course _Jack Sparrow_ and _Elizabeth Swann_. I will be Elizabeth Swann," Fabron gushed. Alice was drawn into it in an instant.

"And I get to be Jack Sparrow?" She smiled nice and wide. Alice heard all three boys groan at once.

"Who better to play Sparrow then you my dear," Fabron held the outfit out to her. Alice got up from her chair and squealed with excitement, clapping while jumping up and down.

"I love it!"

"You two are not going to dress up as some pirates!" Mello growled, trying to get their attention. It failed. The two continued to ignore them as they both looked over their outfits. Around them were sparkles and bright colors.

"We lost them…" Matt sighed.

"Are you sure about this?" Mello turned to Matt. When he agreed to Matt's plan, he was sure the plan would work, but after seeing how those two acted, he was starting to have his doubts again. Near felt the same way, but he didn't say a word, too busy watching as both Fabron and Alice gush over the clothing. Matt looked to Alice and Fabron as well, starting to think the exact same thing.

"What could go wrong?" He laughed once. The other two didn't see the humor in it at all.

* * *

Here are to my wonderful reviewers! 

**jennyz**, **tenshi-no-akuma-81**, **PandasWithDeathNotes,** **animeamd, ****Alice,** **Sophiana, Its Me Not You, and AxelGirl! **(Thank you everyone!)

**Foam Weber:** I like this game **=D** Do I win?

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:**Well you can't base weight off of height and shoes size...though since you mentioned the fact that he works at a butchers has to mean something...hmmm...oh! Do you mean the products he weighs? like the meat and stuff?

**burry and bunny:**The story will still continue after the blood diamonds, but you'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. **=3**

**Frogata: **So I have you for swordfish and somebody else thinks the lobster would win. Maybe I should do a poll or something and see how it turns out. The convention sounds AMAZING! Hope you had fun and made lots of awesome friends!**  
**

**YaoiLoverDeathNote1:** HA! That sounds awesome!

**Isshi Urahara: **I'm so glad you liked it. That had to be one of my favorite moments to write. I hope this chapter made you cackle evilly as well. **  
**

**Stormygio: **I can't really tell you much, but there could be a little A and a little B. Just keep on reading to find out =D Thank you sooo much for choosing my story to read, and it makes me so happy to know you like it!**  
**


	22. Thar she Blows!

Hi readers!

Welcome to chapter 22 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

I got to see some pretty fireworks on independence day on the 4th of July!

Anybody else got to see some?

Enjoy the chapter guys!

* * *

**Thar she Blows!**

Both Fabron and Alice stood in the garage next to a yellow Ford Mustang GT Convertible. It was Fabron's car, and his one true love. They each had their eyes glued onto the medium size medieval canon in the back seat. The canon had a wooden base with wheels to match and the barrel was all hard steel. Despite its size and intimidating appearance, both Fabron and Alice were able to get it into his car with ease, though not without a few complaints from Fabron. His conscious was killing him for allowing himself to tolerate a canon in his car. The two just did not go together and his taste in design would be tarnished if somebody saw him with it. Then again he was dressed as a pirate, so that would at least give him an excuse to have it there.

"So this is it…" Alice exhaled, unable to look away from the shiny steel. She had to give Tinker and Henchman their props. They did a fantastic job on the canon.

"If we die tonight, at least we look amazing," Fabron declared, placing his hands onto his hips. To everyone's relief, Alice was able to talk him out of wearing the dress, but the pirate theme still stuck. Instead of Elizabeth Swann's dress, Fabron decided he would wear her more rouge pirate look, with the pants and ruffled shirt. Even though he went with her more manly outfit, that still did not stop him from wearing high heeled boots and a blonde wig. He was in drag and he pulled it off perfectly. If he sprouted wings on his back, Alice would have believed he was the Greek god _Icarus_. She hated to admit it, but his legs were flawlessly shaped. Even his eye lashes were long a luscious.

Alice on the other hand had her own amazing costume that she adored to no end. She was Jack Sparrow, there was denying it. Not only the outfit was perfect, but she managed to pull off a wig of dreadlocks and a fake beard plus the mustache. She couldn't however wear as much jewelry and trinkets because of the sound it would make, but she made up for it with her personality. Having watch the movies five hundred times, she had memorized Jack's personality to a tee.

The three boys who were regretfully allowing them to wear those were listening to them both over a little ear piece that they had sent over to them without too much trouble. Though sending the canon was another story. First they had to try and convince Tinker and Henchman to give it to them without disclosing their plans. Luckily those two boys loved Alice enough to just give it to her without even asking questions. Matt would never understand how Alice could manage to gain such trust so easily. After collecting the canon, Matt had to find a way to get it to France without L knowing. He knew that sending a canon overseas would not be a quiet business, so with the best of his abilities, he was able to get it to her without too much trouble, though in the back of his mind he knew that L was aware of the canon reaching France. He would be ignorant to think otherwise.

"You guys ready to do this?" Matt tried to mostly psyche himself up. To humor him, Alice repeated a quote she had memorized from the movies, making sure to have her accent to fit the mood.

"Thank you Commodore for getting us ready to make way! We'd have had a hard time of it by ourselves!"

"They're going to die,"

Alice gasped dramatically. "Stop being so mellow Princess,"

"Stop calling me Princess!" Mello growled back, not taking the joke as lightly as Alice or Matt, who was laughing quietly to himself.

"Please Peach, we need to get serious," Fabron interrupted the giggling.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU!"

"We have a problem," Near chimed in. Everybody went quiet to listen to Near. If Near thought something was going wrong, then that meant it was something important. "I have just lost sight of L," Everyone went pale white. They knew that if they didn't have a good hold on what L was up too, then they would be going on the mission blind. L was unpredictable and they were well aware of L's opinion on whether or not they should stop those diamonds.

"Shit," Matt cursed, scaring Alice a little. If Matt wasn't calm, that usually meant the situation was getting worse. "Toad, let me see the screen."

Alice waited patiently to hear from Matt, biting at her nails in anticipation. When Matt finally returned after what seem like forever, Alice prepared herself for the worst. In the deal Alice had made with the three boys, she agreed that they would end the mission if L was too close to catching them. Alice understood the boys desire to back off since L was technically their boss, and he was the one who would decide their fate as a detective. As long as the boys were not caught in the end of it all, then they were willing to help.

"It's okay Ace, we will find him. In the mean time, I need both you and Roxie to head out. Peach here has only given you a little window of opportunity to take out that ship."

Alice exhaled shakily, happy to hear that they were still willing to help.

"Okay, we're on our way," She declared, looking to Fabron for clarification. Fabron nodded back to her, just as ready for an adventure as she was. Bumping fists, the two pirates hopped into the Convertible. Fabron took the driver's seat, never letting anybody else drive his pride and joy. Even though Fabron was a girl at heart, It was Fabron's most manly trait; his love for fast cars.

Alice took the passenger side, buckling herself in for safety. She was well aware of how Fabron liked to drive and she knew the extra adrenalin coursing though him was only going to make it that much more wild. She silently prayed to every kind of spiritual being she could think of as Fabron started to pull out of the garage.

"Ace," Matt spoke up over the ear piece. Alice stopped praying to hear Matt out. "I know this is a bad time to bring it up, but the police reports have been starting to decline."

"That sounds like a good thing to me,"

"No, it's not. It means that L has begun to work with them."

Alice began to bite her nails even more. Fabron wasn't as affected by the news as Alice was.

"Who cares if he sends troops after us, we can take them." He flashed a smile. Alice only wished she had half the confidence Fabron was emanating; though she did blame her fear on the fact that she knew L a lot better than Fabron did. Therefore, he was not as intimidated as she was.

"You would be outnumbered." Near decided to add in, not helping Alice ease her troubled mind.

"They can't outnumber us if they can't catch us!" Fabron replied with a cackle.

"I find your logic to be completely irrational and difficult to follow."

Fabron was unaffected by Near's remark as he started to turn on one of the corners. He arrived moments later on a busy street where the night lights lit up the surrounding city. It was of course the time of night where most of the tourists would head off to sleep and the locals would take to the streets. The night life in Paris was always busy and full of young couples strolling around to try and spark a love connection. Alice and Fabron would have fit that description of looking like a young couple had they not decided to dress up as pirates and did not have a canon in the back seat.

"Roxie!" Matt got louder out of nowhere. "Take a left on the next street and head towards the freeway."

"Got it!" He huffed back, taking the left as sharp as he could, causing the back of the car to slide out and screech. Alice held onto anything she could find, holding back a scream with all her might.

"What's going on?" She grew worried. They already had the route planned out so there had to be something going wrong if Matt made them change their course.

"You're being followed," Mello answered her. Alice lost all color in her body. There would be only one person who would have been following her.

"Shit," She cursed, looking back to see if she could spot any suspicious cars. Indeed there was a sleek black Porsche tailing them three cars back. She's seen enough of the police and detective movies to know that three cars was the norm for any chase. It would leave just enough room for the suspect to not be suspicious, though Alice knew better. Sitting back into her seat, she looked ahead to try and formulate a plan.

"When you get onto the freeway, head off the first exit and take a right," Matt continued to guide Fabron. Fabron did just as he said, knowing that he had to rely on their judgment to get away. He was also way too hyped up to even try it on his own. The drama was just so rich that he thought he was going to die and go to heaven; of course not without a bang first though.

Alice had to hang on once more as Fabron turned off onto the exit. The wind was picking up fast and Alice could have sworn her wig was going to come off. Holding the top of her head to keep it on, Alice opened up the glove compartment. Her heart leaped for joy when she saw the bottle of lotion. Fabron always carried a bottle, and Alice knew right away how she could help. Grabbing the tissues next to the bottle, she started to work with the two products to try and make a makeshift bomb. Pouring a good amount of the lotion into the tissue, she wrapped the tissues together and placed the completed product on her lap.

"Take another right, get back on the freeway." Mall called out again. It was then Alice's turn to take a stand.

"No!" She shouted. Fabron swerved back onto the road before turning right, making Alice slam into the door.

"No?" He breathed heavily, trying to keep his eyes on the road.

"Ace! What are you doing?" Matt wasn't pleased.

"I've got a plan, but we need the stalker car to get closer!"

"Are you kidding me?" Mello sounded outraged. Near was right there with him, though he was far more serene then Mello.

"What plan Ace?"

"Just trust me!" She shouted back, not quite hearing herself over the wind blowing in her face.

"Hey guys!" Fabron sounded worried. "They're catching up to us!" he looked in the mirror at the Porsche. Alice turned her whole body around to get a better look at it. The windows were tinted to the extreme so she had no visual on the driver or anybody else in the vehicle.

"Roxie, turn onto a one-way street." Alice demanded, not taking her eyes off the car behind them.

" Aye aye captain!" Fabron did as she said, turning sharp and fast around the next corner. The stalker car behind them picked up more speed just to keep up, just as Alice had planned. As they rounded the corner into the dark one-way street, Alice was lucky to see that no one was around. As the wind in her wig picked up, Alice unbuckled her belt and got into her knees, clutching the homemade bomb. She stared down the Porsche with a smirk.

As loud and as pirate-like as she could muster, she quoted a line from Jack Sparrow himself, chucking the bomb at the car. "ALL OF YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS IS THE DAY YOU NEARLY CAUGHT CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW!"It only took two second for the tissue to explode over the windshield and the lotion to envelope the entire glass. The Porsche swerved out of control and had to come to a sudden stop, skidding along the way and causing a dust storm behind it. Alice laughed wickedly, quickly sitting back in her seat and buckling herself in again.

"WOOO!" She screamed.

"That was amazing!" Fabron was in awe.

"What did you just do?" Matt wasn't as excited as Fabron.

"I took care of him; he's not following us anymore." Alice still had on her smug smile. The three boys were dead quiet on the other line.

"We need directions Yoshi." Fabron broke through the silence and caused Alice's goofy smile to cease. Matt recovered in an instant.

"Right, get back on the freeway and I'll help you from there."

Fabron obeyed Matt's directions and got straight back onto the freeway. Looking back in his mirror, he was happy to see the stalker car was gone. Alice had done her job right and managed to lose them, though he was a little upset that she used his good organic lotion. He could always buy more though. He just mentally wrote down the product onto his list of things he needed to purchase in the future.

Alice could feel her heart thumping in her chest. It was beating so hard that the wind almost seemed insignificant to her bodies pulse. She had just almost caused a car to crash and she didn't even feel guilty about it. In fact, it was so thrilling that she almost hoped that another car would follow her just so she could do it again.

Fabron was also excited, though he was far more focused on the road ahead of him. Turning onto the freeway, he caused his car to screech again for dramatic effect. He loved the sound it made along with Alice's screams to his left

"I'm on," He announced to the guys. Matt was happy to hear that the plan was back in progress the way it was suppose too, though he knew the stalker car was only the beginning. There was going to be more trouble up ahead and they were just going to have to find a way to take care of it.

Alice would continuously look behind just to make sure they weren't followed. As Fabron continued on with the planned out route, Alice couldn't help but start to feel more confident about the plan. If she could stop a car from following her using only lotion and a tissue, then she was more than ready to use a canon on a ship.

As they rounded the next corner, Alice could start to smell the ocean. They were getting close.

"You're going to have to go the back way and hide. When you guys reach the safe zone, we will signal you for when you can move in." Matt instructed next, sounding more confident as well.

"No problem," Fabron smirked, getting more into his character. And it did not take long for Fabron to get off the freeway and into the dark, barely lit streets close to the harbor. Alice could feel the blood in her veins go numb from the cold night's breeze. Goose bumps were forming up and down her arms. The night was so quiet, Alice thought that maybe nobody was going to be at the harbor. To her disappointment though, when they got closer to the docks, lights from the buildings and the shipyard were ablaze and chatter could be heard through the echo of the wind. Fabron and Alice both held their breath as they drove past the entrance to the harbor, eying what little they could see before the wall shielded their vision once more. From what they could make out, there weren't many men out in the yard, but that didn't mean that they weren't in the buildings.

When Fabron reached the hideout parking on the bottom floor of an old mechanic garage, he turned off his baby and leaned back in his white leather seat, taking in a deep breath. The garage was pitch black with the only light coming from the moon up in the sky. The only sound that could be heard was from the crickets. Alice and Fabron glanced over at each other just to make sure both were still up for the mission. They smiled when they realized they were thinking the exact same thing. There was no way they were going to chicken out. Laughing to themselves, Fabron looked into his mirror to make sure his makeup looked presentable. If he was going to get caught, he at least wanted to look his best. Alice on the other hand got Matt's attention.

"Destination reached."

"How does it look out there?" Matt was hesitant. It was the part of the mission that was going to be the most unpredictable and he at least wanted to make sure he could keep them safe.

"It's quiet where we are. The shipyard didn't look too crowded."

"Okay good. Get the canon ready and walk it over to the ally to the left on _Crepuscule Street_. You should be safe there until we are ready for you to strike."

"Aye sir!" Alice saluted. Fabron nodded his head, overhearing the orders as well. Both she and Fabron then pounded their fists together to get more pumped up for the long night. Getting out of the car, the two struggled momentarily to try and get the canon out of the backseat. Fabron was anxious not to have any scratches, so any wrong move on Alice's part could cause Fabron to have a meltdown. For Alice, it was the most dangerous part of the mission. She was safe however when the two finally managed to get the canon free. They set it down on the cement ground next to his car and sighed a heavy relief. Clapping their hands together, they wiped off the dirt and sweat.

"Hurry up! I'm not going to wait forever!" Mello's grumpy voice called out. The two frowned down at the canon. Alice's rebellious side started to kick in unconsciously.

"I will work however fast I please." She pressed her hands onto her hips tightly.

"Fine, then I have better things to do then help you…"

"NO!" Both Fabron and Alice shouted. Their voice echoed throughout the whole garage.

"SHHHHHHH!" Matt hissed over the line. "Don't shout!" They both covered their mouths quickly and looked out the garage door where the moon was striking the pavement. They waited in silence for what seemed like an eternity, waiting to see if anybody would come after them. After the longest minute of their lives, they both relaxed feeling confident that nobody had heard them.

"You both are idiots," Mello scoffed. Alice felt a vein pulse on her forehead. The hot blood coursed through her so quickly that the numbness she had felt before from the cold vanished. She held her tongue though, knowing the mission was far more important than a petty fight with Mello.

"Let's go Ace," Fabron whispered loudly to her. Alice nodded her head over to him and started to help him push the medium sized canon out of the garage. The canon was lighter than they would have expected and since it was on wooden wheels, it hardly made any noise other then when it was rolling over tiny rocks. It would click and creak as they continued to push it down the street. By the time they reached the ally, the moon was shrouded in clouds, leaving the night sky much darker than before. Luckily there was one street light across the road that would flicker now and then, but none the less, light the ally enough for them to see. The cement fence that was the only barrier between them and the harbor was tall. They both were not expecting it to be so high and that worried them. How were they going to get the canon over it? Sure they could lift the canon into and out of the car, but the wall was a different story.

"Yoshi…"Alice whispered, elongating his name out of concern.

"Don't worry about the wall." He started. Alice couldn't be sure to trust him. He was all the way in England after all, so there was no way he could do anything. Instead she came up with her own idea.

"You want me to blast it with the canon?"

"What?" Matt was taken aback for a second. "No Ace, you only have one shot anyways."

"Oh yeah," Alice moped, disappointed she couldn't come up with a good idea. "Then how do we get over it?"

Mello answered her before Matt could. "There is a sewer entrance at the end of the ally on the right. The tunnel will lead you right into the shipyard." He smirked, sounding pleased at the idea of Alice having to travel underground in a sewer. Alice made a disgusted face. Fabron was right behind her.

"EWWWW!" They both whispered back while making sour faces. "I am not going into a sewer." Alice finished harshly. She would have rather tried attempting to climb the wall then have to walk around underground in somebody else's waste. Mello only snickered in delight, his evil laugh panicking Alice to the point where she believed he wasn't lying. _They weren't serious right?_ She refused to believe so.

Matt was laughing along with his friend too, finding the teasing to be incredibly hilarious. If only he could see Alice's face. But he did get more serious when he remembered they had a time limit.

"You don't have to use the sewer." He revealed. That eased her mind. "The building next to you has a back door. Inside there you will take another left and around a corner where another door will lead you to the shipyard."

Mello was not pleased that Matt had ruined his fun, but he knew that the situation called for a more serious atmosphere. He let it slide for the moment.

"Thank Davy Jones's locker." Alice relaxed, running her hand through her dreads.

"Let's move out then!" Fabron got pumped up. She smiled over at her friend and helped him with the canon. As quietly as they could, they entered inside the dark brick building using the metal door Matt had pointed out. From there on Matt guided them down the hall and right to the other door that would lead them outside. Listening carefully, Alice could hear the sound of men moving about shouting to each other to finish loading the ship. Alice could only flinch at the idea of what they were loading.

"We made it." Fabron pressed himself to the wall with his back. He crossed one arm and flipped some of his blonde hair out of his face, listening to the men outside as well.

"Perfect, now wait for the signal." Matt ordered.

"What's the signal?" She wondered. Alice's question was answered a few seconds later, but not by one of the boys telling her. But by the explosion that shook the very foundation Alice was standing on. She fell against the wall to steady herself. The sound of broken glass shattering and men screaming were just outside. She could even start to smell the smoke that was probably coming from the fire that was started. Alice could only gap at the sudden explosion. The rumbling from the echo continued on. She was in utter shock that she couldn't even move away from the wall she fell against.

"Ace now!" Matt shouted over her ear piece. Alice snapped out of her daze quickly. For a second, her body instinctively went over to the canon to start pushing it, but then the thought of the explosion outside made her rethink her actions.

"I thought I was going to be the only one exploding stuff tonight?" She asked with a pout. Her shaken up form was gone and she was right back to being her old self again.

"GO NOW YOU IDIOT!" Mello screamed back. Both Alice and Fabron jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Fine!" Alice growled back, still upset about the whole explosion thing. And with a reluctant tug and pull, Fabron and Alice got the canon out the door. The door slammed shut behind them, echoing throughout the shipyard, but luckily the building way out on the other side, was on fire and nobody was around to catch them. In the distance Alice could hear the crackle of the fire along with the men screaming to put it out. She knew it was only a matter of time until fire trucks would show up, so she motioned over to Fabron to follow her. Fabron nodded his head and helped her push the squeaky canon.

"Ace," Nears voice filled into her ears. He had been quiet for so long that Alice had almost forgotten he was even there. "You are going to aim at the vessel with the name _Swiss Shipping_,"

"How do you even know it's that one?"

"Switzerland does not produce diamonds." He answered calmly, as if the situation Alice was in was normal. Just another day for Near really.

Fabron looked out at the sea in front of them, hiding behind a large transportation unit which probably housed some sort of product. There were still a few sitting out waiting to be put onto a boat while the rest of them were already prepared to be shipped out. As Fabron scanned the layout, he spotted the exact ship Near was talking about.

"Bingo." He smirked, waving to Alice so she could see. Alice peered around their hiding spot and saw a part of the large vessel right in front of them. She thought it was going to be harder to find, but there it was in all its morbid glory. That's when Near spoke again.

"You are going to want to aim closer to the bottom. Do you remember the blueprints?"

"Sort of…" Alice sweated a little. When they were planning their mission, Matt had shown them the blueprints of the boat. She had no idea even how they got them or how they were even able to blow up that building moments ago, but she was grateful none the less. Without their help she would have never gotten that far.

"I don't like that answer." Near cringed.

"Don't worry my little toadstool, I remember." Fabron tried to ease Nears worries. That only caused Near to cringed more. Mainly because his new nickname was being used inappropriately.

"Just get on with it!" Mello was becoming more impatient. Their time was running out and Mello hated cutting it close.

"Aye aye sir!" Both Fabron and Alice got pumped. Mello only groaned in return.

Taking one last look around the empty shipyard, Fabron gave the signal that it was okay, and the two pirates pushed their canon out into the open. Standing just in front of the ship, Alice's jaw dropped. The ship was massive in full view, carrying who knows how many of those storage units. For a moment she didn't even know if the canon was going to be enough to take care of it in one shot. Looking over to Fabron who was aiming the canon, she gave him a skeptical look.

"Is this going to work?"

Fabron looked up to her and pulled out his lighter. "Only one way to find out captain. Would you like to do the honors?"

Alice's doubt washed away in an instant as soon as she saw his smile. Even though the canon was small, she didn't care since she knew that somehow everything was going to be okay. It was Tinker and Henchman who built the thing, so she had to have faith that it was going to cause some sort of damage. Whether it exploded the ship or themselves was just going to have to be a surprise.

Taking the lighter from Fabron, Alice squatted in front f the fuse that was coming out from the back of the steel barrel. Opening up the square lighter that was covered in hello kitty stickers; she flicked it on and watched the flame dance in front of her.

"You have a minute until the authorities arrive." Near gave his last warning. Taking in a deep breath, Alice held the flame right over the wick. The wick sparked ablaze and started to makes its decent down the fuse. Fabron grabbed Alice's arm and ran with her far back behind their old hiding spot. Their hearts were racing as they tried to catch their breaths. Alice sat down on her butt and plugged her ears with both of her hands. She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to see or hear the loud explosion. Fabron on the other hand was looking around the corner, shaking in his high heeled boots in excitement. The wick slowly made its way into the canon's barrel, sparks of yellow and white disappeared into the dark tube. Alice pressed harder on her ears, subconsciously knowing it was going to go off soon. Fabron gripped the corner of the unit they were hiding behind tighter, his knuckles turning pure white. Both of their hearts were going to jump right out of their chests.

…Silence filled the dead air…

…Not even the sound of the crackling fire and men could be heard…

That's when it happened.

A concentrated blast that sounded louder than the last. Since Alice wasn't looking, she only felt the ground shake violently under her. She also felt the heat from the explosion. She snapped her eyes open as a fire ball in the background puffed out light in the form of a giant cloud. The winds from the explosion pushed back Fabron and forced him to sit next to Alice while covering his ears as well. The fire cloud started to die down and leave black smoke behind. As the smoke formed into a mushroom, it floated towards the sky. The sound of the ship creaking and moaning came next.

"Get out of there NOW!" Both Matt and Mello screamed, making Alice jump out of her skin. Her heart pounded against her chest as she fumbled to stand up on two legs. Fabron was the same, supporting himself by using the storage unit. When she tripped to get to the canon, she paused to see the damage the canon had made. Her mouth fell right open. Along the bottom of the ship near the back there was a giant hole the size of an elephant. It was slowly filling up with water and made the ship tilt just a little. The gasoline that was dripping from one of the cracks caught fire, causing most of what was inside to glow red with heat. Even the water was steaming around it. She knew there was no way that boat was ever going to sail again. She couldn't believe a canon that small could make such a large hole.

"ACE!" The boys on the other line yelled again, snapping Alice right back to what she should have been doing. Off in the distance Fabron could hear some of the workers shout. Their footsteps were becoming more clear and it was only a matter of time until they were caught. Holding onto his wig as he ran, he grabbed hold of the canon and started to push it towards the door they had come in. Alice helped him push faster than they had ever pushed it before. It was most likely the adrenalin that was making it easier. By the time they made it to the door, the sounds of sirens could be heard just outside of the harbor. Alice took in short speedy breaths as they lugged the canon inside.

The building was dark just like before, but that didn't matter all too much. They both could still hear the men outside screaming over the destruction of their ship. It was at that point that Alice started to smile and giggle uncontrollably.

"We did it!" She said out of breath while still pushing the canon down the hall. Fabron join in with her with his cheeks rosy pink.

"I can't believe that just happened!"

"We just blew up a ship!" Alice got even more excited. As the two continued to laugh in delight, they made it to the metal door. Without any hesitation, they pushed the canon out the door and into the ally. The sounds of sirens got louder and flashing lights were just beyond the wall next to them. That's when Alice heard a _click_.

Looking over towards the street, a light turned on and blinded the two. Alice and Fabron covered their eyes out of pain and surprise. When she felt comfortable enough to see, she lifted her hand slightly and tried to make out who had put a spot light on her. Right at the end of the ally stood the very man Alice was hoping to avoid the whole time. His black messy hair seemed even darker as the spotlight behind him formed his silhouette. His arm was pointed toward them both and in his hand he held a handgun, cocked and loaded. Alice's heart dropped to her feet and the color in her skin turned transparent. She didn't even know if she was breathing or not. Unconsciously she whispered Matt's name to try and get some help, but there was no answer in return. They had abandoned her.

* * *

You guys ares soooo amazing! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**cookie67, YaoiLoverDeathNote1, jennyz, PandasWithDeathNotes, and Stormygio. **(Thank you all so very much!)**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** I actually know this one **=)**, the answer is _Starting. _Then goes to _Staring, _and then _String, _and then _Sting, _and then _Sing, _and then _Sin, _and then_ In, _and last is _I_. I know a lot of riddles...I just have too much time on my hands...

**Foam Weber:** **=D** This is getting more fun. What's next?**  
**

**monsterousmaiden646: **Eventually there will be LXOC, just give it some time. **  
**

**Frogata: **I love chibi's! And they will always be your friends at heart? *Shrugs shoulders*

**burry and bunny: **The story does not take place before the Kira case, so I'm sorry if that makes you sad. I've already explained the Kira case in the heading of my 7th chapter. I have my own story planned out, so the kira case just wont come about. I'm really happy though that you want to make fan art for my story. You have no idea how giddy I am just thinking about it. Please do and I can't wait to see what you draw! You're amazing, you know that?

**tenshi-no-akuma-81: **You want to draw her? EEEEEEEEEEE! Thank you so much! Well for a description, all I can tell you is that she has longish platinum blonde hair and golden eyes. Other than that I will leave it up to your imagination. I can't wait to see what you come with!

**HybridRebellio:** You could never be too harsh to me, I promise. I love when my readers help me with spelling because I know it's my worst bad habit. Thank you so much for telling me and I promise to try and fix whatever I find, or whatever you help me to find. **=)**

**Alice: **You don't have to feel bad about missing a few reviews. Just as long as you continue reading it and liking it is good enough for me. But I am still happy to see that you still wrote. I'm also glad you loved the last few chapters. I took your wonderful advice and I hope this is a good enough cliffhanger. Thank you Alice dear! **XD**


	23. Welcome Home

Hi people on the internet!

This is chapter 23 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Please continue reading, I promise I wont interrupt.

Unless...zombies attack...

Then I might have something to say...

Enjoy the chapter! **=D**

_(Disclaimer: Do not own Death Note, I repeat, do not own Death Note.)_

* * *

**Welcome Home**

The night had been going so perfectly. Not one problem had come about that they couldn't handle. And then he showed up, the one who Alice feared the most. The one who she knew could be the only man who could stop her fun. And by fun, she meant important mission to save the world.

Every step of her plan had been going so well. She had managed to get away from that man and obtain the help of three geniuses all the way out in England. Then her brilliance brought her to Fabron who had willingly helped her drag a canon all the way to the harbor. The only trouble they had was a stalker car in which she had no trouble at all getting rid of, just by using lotion and a few tissues. At the harbor, the two were able to sneak in and blow a hole in a ship. All while wearing pirate's costumes. The three boys who had helped her were all blaming it on luck, though Alice knew better than that. She knew it was her stamina and thick headedness that truly accomplished her goal.

But in the end of it all, neither of those traits was going to help her, because it was that man that caught her red handed. Just when she thought she was home free, he ended up cornering her in the ally with a spot light bearing down on her shrunken form. There was no escape.

"Put your hands where I can see them," The man holding the gun said calmly. His voice sounded so soothing to Alice, but she knew better then to fall for such a kind voice. Fabron did just as he said, and put his hands in front of his chest palms up. He knew he should have held them above his head, but he didn't want to look ridiculous. Alice followed in suit, doing the same as her pirate friend. Her hands were shaking though since there actually was a possibility he would shoot her. After hearing him yell at her, there was no telling what he would do next and she didn't want to let her guard down just in case. That's when he lowered his gun and turned a little to look behind him.

"Restrain them." He ordered. Alice was surprised to see three men come into the light with full police gear on. Handcuffs were dangling in two of them men's hands. Alice could feel the sweat on her forehead. She gulped as she watched the men close in on her. Fabron saw the situation a little different. He saw the men and arched an eyebrow.

"Why hello," He purred as one of the men grabbed his hand to cuff him. The young officer avoided eye contact as he pulled Fabron's hands behind his back. He was new on the field, so he had no idea how to handle the drag queen. Fabron found the recruits discomfort to be cute.

Alice's hands were forced behind her back by the other two men. She was a little upset that two men had to restrain her while Fabron got the cute new little recruit. It was as if L didn't trust her or something.

When the officers were done cuffing them, they pushed them forward toward the spotlight. Fabron enjoyed that even more.

"I usually don't wear cuffs on a first date." He laughed, trying to look back at the young officer behind him. The officer didn't respond, lowering his head even more in embarrassment.

Alice started to shake in her boots. It was only a matter of time until she was going to be locked up in jail and never see the light of day again. The only thing she could do at that point was to pray to the many different kind of god's. Eventually one of them was going to answer her prayers right?

As they made it out the light, Alice could see more clearly. That's when she saw L's face in detail as they were pushed towards the vehicles with the flashing lights. Red and blue would change continuously, reflecting off of L's pale skin. When she made eye contact with him, she went stiff. His intense stare had never affected her before. But now that same far off stare only made her feel vulnerable and weak. She had finally lost and it was going to be the last time she was ever going to experience freedom.

The two were forced in two different cars, though Fabron was unaware of where Alice was going. He was too busy flirting with the officer who was trying to get him into the car. Alice would have felt sorry for the officer had she not been worried about what was going to happen to her. When she was in the car, the door was shut and she was enveloped in muffled noise. She could hear people outside, but the windows were dark and it was difficult for her to see. All she could do at that point was wait. She always hated waiting.

* * *

The small dark room was eerily quiet except for the sound of metal scraping rock. Alice was the only one there, having no idea where Fabron was taken. She hadn't known how long it's been since she was put in the cell, but she's been marking down the time using a part of the metal on her belt and scraping it on the cement wall. So far she had scratched about 60 little marks.

She had been driving herself crazy. She needed somebody to talk to and she hating having to sit in a room by herself without any windows to brighten it up. It was cold and dark and she could have sworn she heard water dripping somewhere. The metal bars that separated her from a hallway were the only way for her to see outside her cell. Though there wasn't much to see since right across the hall was just another wall. For her it seemed like it had been days. All she could do was either sleep on a hard metal bed or pace back and forth. Neither of those options was good enough for her, so she decided to just let herself lose her mind.

Just like in the movie _Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End_when Jack Sparrow had lost his mind in Davy Jones's Locker, Alice had lost hers as well. She also blamed it on the fact that she was still in full costume with the beard and mustache to match. Finishing up the last mark on the wall, Alice set the belt on the ground and stood up to admire her work.

"That will have to do," She approved of her work. Then turning her body around, she looked over at the metal bed that was sticking out of the wall. Rubbing her beard on her face, she contemplated on how high she could jump off it and flip. She's had some acrobatic classes in the past, so she was confident that she could do it, but she didn't want to hit the low ceiling.

Shrugging her shoulders, she decided she was going to do it anyway. Stepping up on the bed, Alice looked down at the cement floor. Somehow it looked a lot higher up then she expected. Taking in a deep breath, she prepared herself. In her mind she repeated "one two skidoo…"

"Ace?" A familiar voice echoed through the quiet. Alice immediately moved her eyes over to the cell bars. Standing right on the other side was none other than L himself. His cold vacant stare was looking right up at Alice who was frozen on the bed, staring right back at him. She couldn't believe that there was somebody talking to her in the first place. It had been so long since she's heard another person's voice. Tilting his head a little and placing his thumb on his bottom lip, L was a bit concerned that Alice was on top of the bed.

Alice could feel her throat start to choke up. Quickly she got off the bed and ran to the metal bars.

"L!" She cried out his name. When she reached the bars, she slipped her arms through and pulled him into a hug, pushing him into the bars towards her. L was quick to moves his arms up so she just had his waste in her arms, but he still was not quick enough to break free from her grip. His body was warm to the touch and the fabric on his shirt was soft. Alice never thought she was going to hug another human being ever again. "It's so great to hear another human beings voice!" She cried out, squeezing him a little harder. L tried to move a little, but found it difficult to do. She was a lot stronger than he expected.

"It has only been an hour Ace…"

"I thought I was going to lose it!" She continued to cry. Those marks on the wall had been measured in minutes. Every minute Alice marked was just another minute she was losing her mind. An hour was much too long for her to handle by herself. Especially in a room so bland. "I'm so sorry L for yelling at you!"

L sighed and tried to look down at the girl. Her face was buried into the bars near his chest so he only could see the top of her head which still had the wig on it.

"I promise I won't blow up any more ships! Please just end this cruel punishment!" She gripped his shirt even more so it scrunched up in her hands.

"That's not really the lesson I wish for you to learn, though I am thankful you will never repeat that act again." L stayed calm, giving up on trying to break away from her grip. Even though he was not expecting Alice to give in so easily, he decided to use her high emotional disparity to his advantage anyway. The only little problem was that he was being crushed against the bars, so he had to work fast. "I'm waiting for a different apology." He gave her a nudge forward.

Alice sniffed once, but couldn't find the strength to look up at him. She kept her face in-between the metals bars. She knew what L really wanted and it was the only way to break free from her hell. Sniffing one last time, she started her other apology.

"I'm sorry that I disobeyed you."

L stared down at her, her words still echoing in his mind. That was what he wanted to hear, and now it was the time for him to apologize. He was in the wrong just as much as she was, and the only way to repair their friendship was to give back what he had received.

"I must apologize as well," He finally was able to say. Alice's grip loosened a bit. Those were the last words she ever expected to hear from L. What did he have to be sorry for? He wasn't the one who blew up a ship. "I should have listened to your concerns and yet I ignored you and almost got you injured."

That apology surprised her even more. She moved her head away from the bars and looked at L in the eyes. L went speechless when he saw her face. Not only was she still wearing the beard and mustache with the dreadlock wig, but the metal bars had left two red fat lines down both her cheeks. L couldn't stop the smile that came next. It was the most ridiculous look Alice had ever had, and it didn't help that she was looking bewildered too.

"What?" She noticed his smile. L tried to keep it together and get serious again. He had to finish his apology without looking like he didn't mean it. He didn't want her to take the smile the wrong way. "Is there something on my face?" She asked while pointing to her head. L turned around quickly, able to finally break free from her grasp. Alice watched him walk over to the wall on the other side. Taking in a deep breath, L found it easier to apologize sincerely once again.

"I was responsible for your safety and yet I put you in danger not only once, but twice. That is inexcusable and I apologize for my incompetence."

Alice slowly smiled over at his slouched over form. Even though the two had just been fighting not long ago, it just goes to show how close their friendship was. L may not have been a sociable person, but he still was able to mend their broken trust.

"L," She called out his name. L slowly turned to look at her once more. Alice smiled nice and wide when they made eye contact. At that point everything seemed like what it used to be. "Let's go home."

L stared at her for a moment, trying to keep up his professional appearance. Even though he should have been scolding her more, he couldn't help the smile that returned. The Wammy house sounded wonderful and he was more than ready to leave Paris. The case had literally drained him and he just didn't have enough energy to continue punishing Alice. Placing his hands into his pockets, he walked back over to the cell. Alice was gripping the bars in front of her when L stopped just inches away. His smile faded and he returned to his serious self again. He eyed her fake beard intensely.

"I refuse to take you back looking like a pirate."

Alice touched her beard a little, almost forgetting she had it on. Thinking quickly to herself, she giggled in return.

"I could dye it white and go as Santa Claus if you like?"

"Take it off Ace."

"Ho ho ho!"

"Fine, I'm leaving then."

"NO COME BACK! DON'T LEAVE ME!"

* * *

It had been a long few days that they both had been in Paris. Alice never really did find out where Fabron was taken, though L did tell her not to worry. In reality, she wasn't worried at all. Knowing Fabron, he was probably off back in his own world of fashion and drama. She knew L wasn't the type to hurt her friends. As the two boarded their privet jet, since L refused to use public transportation again, Alice felt her phone start to ring in her pocket. She jumped, not realizing she still had her phone. Pulling it out of her pocket quickly, she opened it up and put it to her ear. L looked back at her as he finished climbing the staircase to the plane.

"Hello?"

"Alice dear, I'm sorry I haven't called you sooner. You must have been awfully worried about me." Fabron's overdramatic voice filled into her ear. Alice sweated a little, just moments ago thinking the exact opposite. But she was glad to hear from him anyway.

"So worried," She lied.

"You poor thing. Well I'm just calling to tell you I'm safe and sound." He laughed on the other line. In the background Alice could hear some music and another man's voice laughing as well.

"That's great Fabron." She smiled, saying his name out loud so L knew who she was talking too. More laughter could be heard in the background and Fabron playfully told his friend to be quiet. He also told him to stop doing other things, but Alice didn't really want to think about it all too much. She was curios who he was talking too though. "Who's with you?"

"Do you remember that officer that took me in?"

"You didn't!" Alice gasped, thinking back to that young new recruit.

"It took a little convincing, but he came around eventually. He's like my soul mate!"

"I'm so happy for you two." Alice giggled, finding the whole situation extremely ironic and hysterical. Only Fabron would find a relationship with a man who just moments ago tried to arrest him.

"I'll make sure to call you again if there are wedding bells in the future." Fabron teased, causing the young officer in the background laugh as well. Alice laughed once more and then said her goodbyes to her dear friend, kissing the phone loudly. Even if it was for a short time that they were together, she never felt closer to him. She was always thankful he was around. Hanging up her phone, she slipped it back into her pocket and looked up to L.

"You will never guess who Fabron is with!"

"I honestly do not wish to know." L replied, holding up his hand to stop her from saying any more. Alice pouted a little but let the subject go. At least L wasn't changing her phone number so Fabron couldn't call her again. She was thankful she hadn't lost her cell phone privileges all together. Running up the rest of the stairs, Alice followed L into the privet jet. As much as she should have been surprised to see a privet jet, she wasn't. L had so much money that she could have sworn he was the leading holder to the world's economy. If for one day he didn't spend any of his money, over 50 thousand businesses would be out of commission. She was even afraid to ask how much he made in one week. If he could afford the hotel they were staying in and all the candy that was thrown around without having to clean it up themselves, then he must have been loaded.

"So when will we make it back to England?" Alice decided to change the subject. She needed to stop thinking about his wealth and move on to more important matters, like her family. Well, her foster family. Her real family was probably flying around contributing to the political world. They probably didn't even care she was gone.

"Without any delays, we should be arriving in no less than an hour."

Alice watched the door to the jet close and seal itself. The sound of the engine came next. It was slow to start, but Alice could feel the jet vibrate as the engine powered up. Looking around inside, Alice noticed six chairs that were all leather and tan in color. On each of the arms there were buttons. She had no idea what half of those buttons even did, but she did have an hour to find out, so she wasn't worried. L took the chair that was closer to the front of the jet. Just in front of him was the door that probably led to the pilot's wing. L sat in his normal manner of squatting and pulled out a piece of candy from his pocket.

Alice made her way over to the chair next to him on the other side. When she sat down she literally sunk in. It was soft for being leather. Alice had never been so comfortable in her life.

"It's like a cloud," She sighed, leaning more back to recline. When she was completely horizontal she relaxed.

"You should get some rest." L suggested, crunching on the cookies that he had sitting next to him. Alice closed her eyes. She had been running around all night and it was still considerably late. By the time they would even reach England it would probably be morning. Alice was more than willing to give in to sleep, even if it was only going to be for an hour. Stretching while making a little squeal, Alice turned onto her side to get more comfortable. She could already feel the drowsiness take over and it was only a matter of time until she couldn't open her eyes. The cabin was warm and every muscle in her body was affected by it. Taking in deeper breaths, she could feel her mind start to go under.

"Sweet dreams Ace." L's whisper echoed into her dreams.

* * *

Alice was sleeping soundly in her room with the curtains pulled over the window so the bright sun couldn't get in. Her light breathing was soft and sweet. She looked at peace under those quilted covers. Shifting a little, she started to come around. Her body was against it at first, but she forced it to move a little to stretch her legs. When she felt she was awake enough, she cracked her eyes open. She rubbed them a little to help with the process, but she had no trouble in getting them working. She needed to wake up anyway. She didn't want to waste the day away sleeping. She also didn't want to miss landing in England and then coming home to greet everyone…

…wait…

Alice immediately jumped up like a _jack-in-the-box_ toy. She looked around her room in shock.

"What the?" She gasped, throwing the covers off her. Looking down at her clothes, she was amazed to see she was wearing her pajamas. It was the one with the shorts that were checkered black and white and a shirt with the graphic of Tinkerbelle on it. She jumped out of bed and ran to the door, screaming in her head that it must be all a horrible dream. She couldn't possibly be home. She just couldn't have missed her special welcome home plans that she had been planning ever since she had left for France.

As she ran to her door she stomped and stumbled all the way there. Her legs felt heavy and hard to control since she only had just gotten up a few seconds ago. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She was even starting to hyperventilate. How could she have possibly missed landing in England and coming home?

Down in the dining room, all the children were gathered around the table, passing around plates of different assorted breakfast foods. It was early morning and most of the children were still trying to wake up. Of course some of them found it easy to wake up since they knew Alice had come home last night. Even though they knew she was home, none of them could go up and see her. Watari had strictly ordered that no one is to disturb her while she's asleep. Most of the children were upset that they couldn't see her, but they respected Watari's wishes and figured Alice had a long trip.

Lea and Liam looked to the empty seat in-between them and sighed. Mello's agitation grew as he tried to ignore the twins. The twins had been constantly annoying him over the past two days wanting to know if Alice was okay. The last thing he ever wanted to do was chit chat with a bunch of brats. When Alice had gotten home, Mello was hopping the two would be back to normal, but of course the rule came about that nobody could see her. That really pissed him off even more. Now he was stuck listening to the two complain even more. And what made it worse was that he had no idea what was going to happen to him. He figured when L got home, he and Matt would have some form of punishment for helping Alice blow up a ship. But in the end he never even got to see L nor has Watari or Roger said anything to him about it. Mello couldn't stand being left in the dark.

Matt was in the same boat with Mello. Ever since L had cut his communication off with Alice yesterday, he had been wondering what had happened to her and what was going to happen to him. Not knowing was only making Matt's stomach turn. He couldn't even eat.

Near poked at the eggs on his plate. He wasn't hungry either so he had no idea why he was even at the table. He would have rather been in his room working on a puzzle or his studies. At least those two activities would have distracted him from having to wait for Alice to wake up.

Tinker and Henchman kept looking to each other, hoping to hear Alice come down. They would occasionally eat small bites of their toast, but that was purely out of just needing something for their hands to do. The two just couldn't be still.

As the rest of the children chatted amongst themselves, a loud _thump_ shook the ceiling above them. Everyone went dead quiet as they looked up to watch the ceiling lamp swing back and forth. Then they all looked to each other with little smiles appearing here and there. There was only one person who could cause so much noise in the morning.

Alice.

Every one of the children grew excited. Some of them bounced up and down in their chairs while others laughed uncontrollably. Mello started to rub his temples, knowing that in only a few moments Alice was going to show up with that same stupid smile on her face.

When the children heard the rapid footsteps down the stairs, they're excitement increased. Near noticed the footsteps as well, though they sounded more frantic then they did animated. It was then that he knew something was wrong with her. The rest of the kids prepared themselves to say "welcome home". They had been practicing, much of Mello's frustration, earlier before. They all couldn't stop moving in their seats.

That's when the footsteps reached the door. Alice didn't waste any time in slamming the door open, causing the door to hit the wall and vibrate. She looked around the dining room full of children with a wild look. Her hair was a mess and her pajamas were wrinkled to the extreme. The children were completely unaware of the distress she was in. Each of them threw their arms in the air and cheered.

WELCOME HO…!"

"DON'T SAY IT!" Alice cut them off. All the children went quiet as they looked to Alice in wonder. They all slowly lowered their arms as they watched Alice try to catch her breath. They had no idea why Alice was so upset. Some of them were even worried that it was their fault she was mad. Lea and Liam looked to each other with concern. What had happened to the cheerful Alice they had adored?

When Alice felt she was ready to talk again, she looked around the room of worried children. She sweated when she realized she made the wrong impression. Mello was in his usual corner trying to hide his smirk. Straitening herself out, she cleared her throat so she could explain herself.

"Sorry about that, but I don't want you to say it yet."

Little question marks popped up over of some of the children's heads.

"What I mean is that I had planned the whole _welcome home_ thing already."

"I don't believe you can _plan_ a welcome home when you're the occupant who is coming home…" Near didn't look away from his plate as he spoke. He was happy to see she was up, but as always, she wasn't making much sense. Alice frowned at Nears inevitability to not see her point of view. She thought she made perfect sense.

"I can plan whatever I please, and we are all going to go outside and do it the way I have been picturing it for the past two days."

Matt couldn't stop the smirk that came next. Oh how he missed her wacky and overbearing antics.

"I don't understand…" Tinker said next, scratching his head in the process. He was just as confused as the rest of the children.

"First of all, all of you are going to go outside and stand in front of the Wammy house. I want the tallest in the back and the shortest in the front," She began dealing out her demands. "Next I am going to walk through those gates and have a slow motion cheer come from all of you at once. I will of course start to tear up."

"Slow motion?" Matt cocked an eyebrow.

"Next I will spot Mello and charge at him. When I get close enough I will jump on him and cling onto him like a koala does to a eucalyptus tree. I will expect you Mello, to struggle and curse."

"You're not going to get near me you crazy bitch!"

"Perfect, just like that."

Matt started to laugh out loud while holding onto his stomach. It was all just too perfect.

"After Mello pushes me off, I will bump fists with you Matt and ruffle your hair Near."

Near twisted his hair with one finger, slightly happy at the thought. Matt calmed down long enough to give her a thumbs up to prove that he heard her.

"I will then proceed to give you Lea and Liam, two giant lollypops in which you will squeal with delight when you receive them." She moved onto the twins. The twin both clapped and laughed at the same time. The thought of giant lollypops continued to repeat in their heads. They would have hugged her right then and there, but they controlled themselves long enough for Alice to finish what she needed to say.

"When I come to both of you," She pointed to Tinker and Henchman. "I will suffocate you with a bear hug that is so tight you will beg me to let go."

Tinker and Henchman grew pale and started to sweat. Even if it was Alice, that didn't sound like fun for them.

"I will then expect the rest of you to shout out all at once a _welcome home_ so loud and moving that I will tear up again and ask everyone to form a group hug, which will include you Mello whether you like it or not."

"You're out of your fucking mind!" Mello continued to shout. The last thing he would ever do was a _group hug_. The idea only sent shivers of disgust down his spine.

"We are going to do this!" She swatted her finger over at him to emphasize her demands. Matt brought his head down onto the table and started to slap it. He couldn't take it anymore; it was all just so hilarious.

"Brilliant..ha ha ha…just..ha ha…brilliant..ha ha ha!"

"There is no way I am going to go outside just to fulfill your stupid need for a perfect welcome home moment!"

"I swear to god Mello if I don't see you outside in five second, I'm going to come over there and pull you out myself."

"I'd like to see you try!" He scoffed. Alice took up the challenge without any second thought. In a flash she was running around the table to get to Mello. Mello immediately got out of his chair, knowing full well Alice meant business. He ran away as fast as he could out of the dining room and into the kitchen. Alice was not far behind screaming his name as she entered the kitchen. The children then heard a crash of pots and pans along with Mello's screams of agony. It sounded as if Alice was crushing him. Moments later, sounds of struggling came next. Everyone sort of felt sorry for Mello since they knew Alice wasn't the type to be gentle.

"MATT, NEAR!" Alice's scream echoed into the dining room. Matt stopped laughing to hear what she had to say. Near looked up from his plate. "GET IN HERE SO I CAN BUMP FISTS AND RUFFLE YOUR HAIR!"

"DAMNIT ALICE, GET OFF ME!" Mello's rage came next. Matt fell out of his chair and rolled on the ground laughing up a storm. He couldn't move no matter how much he wanted to go and see the two. His stomach hurt but it was well worth it. Near smiled a little, knowing he was probably safer in his chair, though he did commend Alice for her triumph over Mello. He was just glad that she was back at home where she belonged.

Welcome home Alice.

* * *

Thank you everyone for reading!

**Frogata, ****HybridRebellion**, **Sexii-chan **(Love the new name!)**, ****ItsMeNotYou, ****Stormygio, ****monsterousmaiden646, ****YaoiLoverDeathNote1, ****jennyz, and ****deepoblivion99**. (Thank you all so much for reviewing!)

**tenshi-no-akuma-81: **Oh I can't wait to see Fabron! That makes me so happy! As for the story, it wasn't one from Fan-fiction. It was actually a book that I read. Have you ever heard of the writer Janet Evanovich? Well, I love her novels and they make me laugh all the time, so I was just inspired to write something comedic for death Note since the real story line is so dark. If you like romantic comedy's, then I highly recommend her books.

**Isshi Urahara: **Thank you! I'm pleased to see you're back! It was actually one of my favorite chapters to write! **=D**

**Alice: **I'm so happy to hear that! Yes, I know my spelling will be the death of me, but I'm going to keep trying and practice as much as I can. I love Fabron's car. When I was looking through some different models, that one just screamed his name. You can try and get me to stop thanking you, but that's never going to happen; So thank you! Without people like you who read my story, then I wouldn't have the motivation to write it in the first place. **  
**

**burry and bunny: **No need to be sorry about forgetting. Her eye color is golden** =) **And just like the cliffhanger has done to you, now I am in suspense, waiting for you do draw her. I just can't wait to see it! I never have had someone draw me fan-art before!

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: ***Throws hands up into the air* The future! *Makes a fake audience cheer*

**XBloodMageRikaX: **I'm so happy that you like her and the story! Thank you so much for reading!

**Foam Weber:** HA_! skidoo_, I like that one.

** Sick Sweetheart: **Thank you so much for reading! I'm so glad you like it! **XD**


	24. L's Sickness Supressed

Heeeeyyyyyyy ~ 3

Welcome to chapter 24 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

If you check out my Profile there is a link to some Fan-Art of Tinker and Henchman drawn by _g-minor-art_! It's pretty brilliant if you ask me.

Also, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story so far. OVER 200 REVIEWS PEOPLE! AHHH!

I am dancing right now and I expect others will join me soon. **=D** Come now, don't be shy.

_(Disclaimer: I own Alice, Tinker, Henchman, Lea, Liam, and Fabron, but I do not own Death Note) _**  
**

* * *

**L's sickness suppressed **

Alice flicked a corner of a pillow back and forth to try and give her hands something to do. As she sat down on a bed, she couldn't help but wonder why she was going unpunished for what she had done. Being in jail for an hour clearly was not a real punishment, but there she was, sitting in Matt's room being able to hang out with her friend without a care in the world. There just had to be some catch to her freedom.

Matt was sitting in his computer chair with his foot resting on his thigh. He looked laid back, but in reality he was just as confused as Alice was. Alice had told him what had happened to her after Matt was disconnected. She was really happy to hear that Matt and the others had not abandoned her. It was all because of L that they got separated.

The two stayed quiet for a little longer, thinking of any possibilities that could relate to their problem.

"Do you think L will reconsider your spot as one of his successors?" Alice looked over to Matt. It was just them in his room, so she had no worries about Mello interrupting them. All the children had to go to their lessons which included Mello and Near. So it was Just Matt and her until the lessons were over.

"If he was going to take me off his list then he would have done it by now. L isn't the type to linger."

Alice continued to play with the pillow on her lap. Looking around the room she took notice to how plain it was. His bedding was tan and red plaid with a few stripes of dark blue. On his wall he only had one poster with a picture of Kirby flying on a large star. He had a desk with a laptop on it, but that seemed like the only technology he had. She was surprised not to find much else. She figured he was the type of tech genius who displayed all his cool gadgets and gizmos. But his room was bare and boring. The only other possibility was that he was hiding it all.

"We blew up a ship…and I'll I got was a stern talking too." Alice repeated to herself once again, trying to make herself believe her own words.

"Maybe he thought that was a good enough punishment?"

"He knows the punishments I have been through in the house. I mean just before we left for Paris I was tied up with a rope and then handcuffed to a desk and forced to write a paper. His punishment doesn't even compare and he knows that."

Matt started to rub his head knowing Alice was right. It hadn't been long since they got home, so L still had a good chance of showing up and finishing what he started. The real question for Matt though was where was L? Ever since they had come home, L locked himself away in some room and hasn't come out since. That only made Matt worry more. Without knowing what L was up to left him in the same position he was in guiding Alice to the harbor. L was unpredictable, so knowing where he's at or what he's doing was the only way to truly be at ease.

"I wonder where he went…" He mumbled to himself. Alice nodded in agreement. She wondered as well. Moving the pillow off her lap, she looked down at her checkered board shorts.

"I wonder who it was that changed me into pajamas…"

Matt looked over at her messy bed head and disheveled clothing. She looked like she had just wrestled a bear, but that didn't seem to matter to her all that much. In reality, she had wrestled a bear, though his name was Mello and he was by far a lot stronger then a bear. Matt had to give her credit for trying. She had almost gotten him to his knees, but in the end she was thrown off like a cowboy on a bucking bronco.

"My best bet would be Miss Jane." Matt shrugged. That eased Alice's mind a little more. "Did L ever say anything out of the ordinary to you before you got home?"

Alice snorted at the question. There were many things L had said and done that were out of the ordinary. He had yelled at her for one, and then apologized to her when she clearly was the one who made the bad decision. Of course she has never regretted blowing a hole in that ship, but it was wrong to go against L.

"How out of the ordinary would you say qualifies?"

Matt understood what she meant. He's heard enough of her story to follow. The only thing he could do at that point was wait and see what L would do. Whatever he was planning, he was doing a good job of keeping all of them on their toes.

* * *

L threw the folder onto his already large pile of folders on the floor. Ever since he had gotten back to the Wammy house he has been working nonstop on all the small little cases. So far he had competed thirty of them in just four hours.

Biting on his thumb, he grabbed hold of the next folder to continue his work. He needed to keep himself busy. Otherwise, he mind would wonder off thinking about Alice. Ever since coming back from that case, he had been questioning his actions and own state of mind. A case has never gotten out of control from him. Once in a while he would lose a lead or run into a dead end, but he would always win no matter what. Of course he was able to catch the killer in France, but it was at the cost of putting Alice in danger. He had no control over her reckless actions and even worse, he lost sight of her only for a moment and she was able to get away. His focus was shot and in the end she had continued her careless antics by blowing a hole in a ship which L had to cover up for her just so she literally would not get sent to jail.

To try and teach her a lesson, he was going to let her stay in the cell for a while. But as he watched her from a surveillance camera in another room, he notice her psyche was being pushed to the limit. Who knows what she would have done after she climbed up onto that bed. He had to intervene after only an hour which proved to be just enough time to teach her the lesson he wanted her to learn.

But L continued to questions himself. Looking back at all the other times Alice had gotten in trouble, she never seemed to really learn right from wrong. For Alice, the problems just seem to be getting worse as they go. So whether she really learned her lesson or not was what was bothering him.

Then there was that pain in his chest; that annoying little pulse that continued to beat faster and faster every time he thought about her. It was that same pulse that swayed him to let her go so easily. Saying no to her only seemed like it was getting harder for him to do and he just could not figure out why. They were friends of course and friends would always look out for each other. But L knew that wasn't the case. That pain in his chest was something more serious.

Opening the folder, he looked down at the papers and tried to concentrate. The words seemed to mix together and L found himself rubbing his eyes over and over again to try and get them to focus. Maybe he needed sleep. It had been a considerable long time since he's tried to doze off. Setting the file back down, he put his hands onto his knees and looked at his monitor. The desktop had a picture of the Wammy house on it in the winter. The season when L was brought to the house. It was L's favorite season really. Taking in a deep breath, L closed his eyes and set his head down into his hands. He fancied sleeping while sitting up rather than lying down, that way he could be ready for anything. But before he could let his mind drift off, a knock on the door stopped him. Looking over to the door, L heard Watari on the other side.

"Pardon my intrusion," Watari let himself in, causing the door to creak close behind him and latch shut.

"Yes Watari?" L brought back up his energy. Watari looked to his friend with a bit of concern. L had always had black bags under eyes, but they seemed more prominent ever since he had gotten home. He was also concerned with the fact that he had continued to work on smaller cases without much of any kind of break. Not even to eat sweets. It had been the longest L has gone without a bite of cake. Watari knew there was something wrong.

"Your case report back in France has not been sent to me yet. Is there any particular reason for your delay?" Watari decided to just stay quiet about his tired appearance. He already knew that a portion of the problem was probably Alice's fault. What she had done was still a mystery though. The case report was going to fill him in on the details, but L had not given it to him yet. He was anxious to know how it went.

L's eyes darted away from Watari. In his mind he started to kick himself. He had forgotten about the case report, and he was never the type to just forget about important information such as that.

"How shameful of me to forget." He sighed, biting onto his thumb out of habit. "I will send that to you right away."

Watari was taken aback. L forgetting? Was that even possible? That's when he knew there was something terribly wrong. L was always so diligent when it came to his work. Not one mistake would ever occur that he couldn't handle. The only possible explanation that would make since was of course, Alice. Whatever she had done to L on the case clearly affected him. Watari just had to know.

"L, I need you to tell me what happen in France." He went straight for it. Dancing around it would have only annoyed L, and Watari didn't want L to keep anything from him.

L was hesitant at first. Of course if Watari was going to find out in the case report anyway then he had no excuse not to tell him in the first place. He also regretted a little for not telling him sooner. He should have been able to trust Watari. He was the one man who had been with him practically all his life. Taking in a deep breath, L started the long and demeaning story. From the beginning of entering the hotel and meeting Fabron, to end where Alice had ran away and blew a hole in a ship. Every mention of her name left a tingling sensation on L's tongue. It slightly distracted him, but he made through the whole story with Watari listening quietly. Not one word had come out of Watari's mouth. When L was finished, the room was silent. L observed Watari's absent features. L could tell that he was playing it cool, but he knew on the inside that Watari was fighting a war. Even after L had been through it all, the story still sounded as if it was all a joke. He could hardly believe it himself.

"She used a canon…?" Watari could not comprehend it all; especially the part about the three boys helping her. He had been at the Wammy house the whole time and he didn't notice a thing.

"The canon Tinker and Henchman had built."

Watari was speechless. Yet another phenomena that had happened just under his nose, and he was completely unaware. The first emotion he felt was defeat. The children had managed to pull all of it off without him knowing, and Watari was usually good at knowing what everyone was up to at the house. In his mind he had failed just as much as L. There was no point in telling L "I told you so" since he was in the wrong just as much as L was. Going to grab his handkerchief in his pocket, Watari was disappointed to feel it was not there. He sighed when he remembered that it was in the wash.

"I should have been watching them more carefully."

L shook his head at his friend. "There was nothing you could have done Watari. Even if you did catch them in the act, that wouldn't have stopped them from continuing their work."

Unfortunately Watari agreed with L. Knowing how much Alice has influenced the boys, they would have done it all anyway. Watari pinched the bridge of his nose and subtly laughed to himself. Thinking about it more, he couldn't help but find the whole ordeal to be comical. Blowing a ship up with a canon sounded like a plan that came from some sort of cartoon. All the story needed was the word _acme_ written on the canon ball and it would have been perfect.

L noticed his old friend's laughter and frowned. He wasn't quite sure if he was laughing at the situation or L himself.

"Do you find something to be amusing?"

"Oh nothing sir," Watari decided to keep it to himself. L wanted to press him further, but he knew he wasn't going to get anything from Watari. Shaking it off, L decided to switch topics. He was glad that he had confessed to his friend, but now he needed to get back to his work and just forget about the past.

"Well, for my next case I will require your help. We need not travel for this, but I cannot guarantee that won't be the case for later."

Watari nodded his head, accepting L's next case. "What about Miss Alice sir?"

L's heart pounded loudly at the sound of her name. He grabbed his chest and winced a little. The slight pain was starting to concern him even more. Watari noticed his behavior was off and looked at his hand that was gripping his chest. "Is there something the matter?"

"Nothing to be concerned about Watari. I've just been having a few minor symptoms that I am sure will subside after I get some rest."

Watari wasn't really convinced, but let it go none the less. Some rest would be good for L anyway.

"Alight, then I will gladly take my leave then. I will make sure nobody disturbs you." Watari bowed slightly. L was happy with that response and nodded to his friend.

"Thank you."

* * *

Alice paced back and forth for what seemed like the hundredth time. The more she thought about L, the more restless she would become. In the back of her mind she had a gut feeling that L was out to get her. It was obvious that her punishment in that jail cell did not meet the standers to what she should have gone through. She blew a hole in a ship for goodness sakes!

"Alice calm down." Matt was standing up as well, only he had been trying to get her to calm down for the past ten minutes.

"Calm down? How can you be so calm? L is up there right now planning to kill us!"

"Don't you think that you're being a little over-dramatic?"

"What if he cuts off our hands and feet?"

"Do you ever listen to yourself when you talk?"

Alice kicked off her panic mode in an instant, returning back to her normal nonchalant ways.

"I tune in and out," She truthfully answered while shrugging her shoulders. Her board expression left Matt sighing in defeat. Even though Matt considered himself good with sarcasm, Alice seemed to lead him through a loop sometimes. The only way to keep his sanity was to just accept it as good practice. Pulling out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, he opened the box and pulled out one of the cigarettes with his lips. Alice watched him curiously as Matt walked over to his only window and opened it up so he could sit on the windowsill. Next came the lighter from his pocket. Flicking it on, he held the flame open at the end of his cigarette in his mouth and waited for it to burn. Sucking in once to test it, he was relieved when he felt the warm haze savor inside his mouth. He put his lighter away and blew the execs smoke outside. Alice made a disgusted face which did not get unnoticed by Matt.

"Aren't you too young to smoke?"

"I believe you've already asked that question once before." Matt exhaled again.

"I tend to blank out information I don't particularly want to hear."

"That explains a lot." Matt smirked, thinking about Alice's overbearing personality and intellect. Alice didn't catch on to Matt's remark since the cigarette took up most of her attention.

"You can die from those you know."

"I figured L would kill me first anyway since you so clearly believe he's going to."

"Touché," Alice backed down after that, knowing that he had got her. He was clever to use her own words against her, and she knew that there was no other snappy comeback she could come back with that would suffice. She would just have to wait for another moment to strike. So for now she let him smoke the cancer stick.

Sitting back down on his bed, Alice's memory was sparked after looking at Matt's untamed hair. "OH! I almost forgot, I got you a present." She bounced right back up off his bed.

Matt exhaled the smoke out his window and looked to Alice in wonder. Alice ran out his door to her room since she was only one door away. They're rooms were right next to each other so she didn't have to go far. In just a matter of seconds she bound right back in and shut the door behind her with a small bag in her hand. She had also managed to slip on some socks which impressed Matt. If anyone could multitask, it was Alice.

"Trade ja?," She held out the small paper bag to him in exchange for his cigarette. Matt smirked and pulled the cigarette from his lips. Reaching out the window, he put it out by rubbing it against the brick wall outside.

"You win." He smiled, throwing away the cigarette in the trash next to his desk. Alice returned with a victorious smile and let him take the bag from her hand. Matt rustled through the small bag and pulled out a pair of dark red leather gloves. They were sleek and slender, fitting his slim hands perfectly.

"Nice," He praised them.

"I would be careful though. It was Fabron who picked those out…" Alice warned him. She knew Fabron wasn't the type to just let a good looking face go without some sort of aggressive assertion. Knowing him, Fabron had done something with the gloves.

Matt gave Alice a skeptical look, but then felt something scratch him a little in the palm of his hand. Looking at his hand with a bit of dread, Matt pulled off the glove slowly. When his hand was free, a piece of paper fell out with it. Matt grabbed the paper as it fell and flipped it back and forth to get a good look at it. He looked to Alice for some answers but all she did was shrug, just as unaware as he was. Looking back to the note, Matt found the creased end and unfolded it by using his thumb.

Alice waited patiently as Matt looked at the contents in the note. She was surprised to see a smile appear on his face.

"What did he say?"

"It's his phone number," He chuckled, holding the note out to Alice. Alice took the note from him and looked at the number written on it. It was Fabron's alright, and next to the number was a heart. Below that were just two simple yet slightly disturbing words. _Call me_.

Alice snorted and laughed at the same time, covering her mouth to try and keep herself together. Fabron was such a play boy, so it wasn't surprising to her that he would continue to try and stay in contact with her friend Matt.

"So, are you going to call him?" She teased Matt, moving her eye brows up and down playfully. Matt took the note from her and placed it in his pocket with a smirk.

"Maybe later," Matt teased with her. In reality he was glad to have gotten a hold of his number. The more allies Matt had on his side, the more globally experienced he could become. Even if the new alliance member was a bit eccentric, He was still useful. He was able to help Alice blow a hole in a ship, so that qualified him as useful to Matt.

Alice heard the teasing in Matt's voice and laughed with him. Again, she was glad there was a least somebody in the house who could understand the difference between sarcasm and logic.

* * *

It had only been an hour since Watari had left L alone, and no matter how hard L tried, he could not get himself to relax long enough to sleep. It was his chest that continued to bother him. It was at the point where he started to be concerned over his heath. Thinking logically to himself, L continued to try and come up some actual medical problems. There was no other explanation.

Typing away at his computer, he looked over his medical records to see if anything seemed abnormal. He was quite knowledgeable in the medical field, so he was confident in his own results. He knew the basics of a check up and had did it all himself to see if he could find anything wrong. He had even taken a sample of his own blood. He wanted to make sure he didn't miss a thing.

Looking over the results to the test, he was relieved to see that everything turned out normal. The only annoyance was that he still had that rampant heart beat in his chest. Once in a while it would subside, though somehow it would always return. It was a distraction that he could not afford to have any longer. Getting more serious, he decided to continue on with more tests.

* * *

Alice walked back into Matt's room exhausted. She went straight over to his bed and belly flopped onto it with a huff. For the last couple hours after she had given Matt his gift she had been looking for L. She had remembered she had gotten him something as well and wanted to give it to him. Even though it was a bit redundant to give somebody a souvenir that went on the trip with her, she still felt that it was important. She also figured that if she gave him the gift he would be more willing to forgive her for the whole mess she had caused back in France. If he was planning on punishing her still, at least the gift might give her a chance to redeem herself.

But no matter where she looked she could not find him. She had tried asking Watari earlier, but all he ever did was lead her to a dead end. It was as if he was doing it on purpose. He would always claim it was a guess since he really didn't know where he was. At least that's what he told her. Alice wasn't so sure she believed him, but she didn't have much of a choice.

So there she was face first in Matt's pillow, wallowing in he own defeat. Matt was still at his desk, working on his laptop. He had watched Alice go a while ago to try and find L and it clearly showed that she had failed her mission. By the way she was groaning in the pillow, it was obvious to Matt that she was frustrated.

"Couldn't find him I suppose?" Matt asked the obvious. To answer him Alice groaned louder and slammed her fist into his bed. Matt shut off his computer and slowly got up from his chair. He needed to move around anyway to stretch his legs. Walking over to the girl laying on his bed, he gazed down at her defeated form. Even though it was the afternoon, she was still in her pajamas. She was wearing childish ones too with Tinkerbelle on her shirt. Matt had to admit she looked good in them. "So you're just going to give up then?" He decided to challenge her. Matt saw her twitch, knowing that she just took the bait.

She pushed herself up and looked over at Matt with fire in her eyes. Matt took a step back as she jumped off his bed so he wouldn't get hit. She was fired up and he didn't want to be in her way.

"I will find him!" She shouted out to nobody but herself. The scene was so theatrical that Matt couldn't help but grab her shoulders with both of his hands and look to her with a serious expression.

"Go to him. He needs you."

Alice took him seriously and nodded to him once. The fire in her eyes grew and she marched out his room as if she were a soldier. Her feet pounded the wood floors rhythmically. Matt smirked as he watched her go, more proud of himself for having influenced her to keep trying. For once it was his words that made an impact on her then the other way around. He felt good, and even more so, intrigued. Whatever Alice wanted to give L must have been important; otherwise she wouldn't have been looking so hard. Curious about the gift, Matt decided to follow her. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do, and he had to take responsibility for influencing her to go and find him. It was only right for him to keep an eye on her.

* * *

The time seemed like it was going by so quickly. L had preformed so many different medical tests on himself that he was starting to run out of options. Even psychology was looking good and L knew relatively well that his mental state of mind was in excellent shape; though after having experienced the rapid heart rate and pains in his chest, he was starting to doubt that too. It could have been all in his head, but the logical side of him was against that theory.

L needed help. He needed a second opinion. Luckily Watari was just a phone call away and he was the only man L could trust to disclose such matters. Showing weakness to anybody else would be out of the question. He had to keep up an appearance of being indestructible. So without any hesitation, he flipped open his phone and called his friend.

After discussing the problem with his friend, in no time, Watari was with L helping him to try and solve his dilemma. After hearing L's symptoms, Watari was just as worried as L was. L never actually needed help with personal matters all that much, but when he did ask for it, it usually was something significant. L let him look over all the results to his medical exams, and he came to the same conclusion that L was perfectly healthy. Watari was just as stumped as his friend.

"How long has these symptoms been occurring?"

"Since the last day Alice and I were in Paris." L heard his heart thump in his chest. L bit down on his thumb to ignore it. Watari took more time to think about it. Between then and now, there had to have been some sort of trigger. Reviewing the story that L had told him about Alice blowing up a ship, Watari couldn't help the smile that came next. The story was still ridiculous and even more so was the idea he had that could possibly be responsible for L's problem. Though he only brought up the theory as a joke. He even laughed when he said it.

"Well sir, its sounds like you have developed an affection for Alice."

L froze. His whole body went rigid. L even stopped breathing at one point. His blank stare was glued to nothing except the emptiness around Watari. Watari stopped laughing. He never expected L to take him seriously and that worried him.

"Sir?" His friend tried to call out to him. L was already gone though. His mind was off at war with himself. L could only repeat the word affection over and over again as if he was a broken record. The word somehow did not make any since to him. It was as if it was a new word entirely that he had never known about until just now. The meaning behind it only made his heart race even more. Could he have really developed feelings for another person? Is that why his heart trembled just at the sound of her name? It couldn't be. It just couldn't. L had more sense than that. Thinking of Alice in that way only after just knowing her for a few mere weeks was preposterous. Watari had even laughed when he said it, so it was clear to L that it was a joke.

But then came the doubt. All the test results had shown that L was healthy, and yet his heart continued to bother him. Was it really _love_ that influenced it?

Love.

What a ridiculous word to use.

But why did he just use it?

Why was he even considering the probability in the first place? L never questioned himself unless there was something worth debating over. Since he continued to fight with himself over a simple word meant that in the back of his mind he believed it. There was a part of him that accepted the ridiculous word.

That scared him.

Having such desire for another would only make his line of work even harder. L enjoyed challenges; but that one was never one he would ever consider having. His focus would considerably drop. He couldn't afford to have any distractions, and Alice was a distraction enough without L having feelings for her. Adding in the emotions would only make it worse.

But then came the memories; the moments he remembered with Alice. Like the first time they ever even spoke to each other over the phone. Of course she was drunk, but she intrigued L. She said that he even sounded like a dragonfly which only amused him. Then there was the moment he first saw her. The moment when he stepped into that kitchen and saw her covered in chocolate cake mix. Had he felt something then? Did his heart skip a beat when he saw her? He remembered feeling some sort of spark, but at the time it meant nothing to him.

Then there were moments when she had gotten close to him or even touched him. There was that time when she dragged him along down the hall to go and find Watari right before the maze. Her hand had a good grip on his upper forearm, but that didn't seem to bother him at the time. He even went as far as to let her pull him along just so he could experiment for fun. Thinking about that now seemed nothing like what he would do. And yet he let her. He had also let her look at the case he was working on in the maze. The one with the drug dealer down in Indonesia. L would have never let anybody help him with that case other than Watari, and yet he allowed her to look over his shoulder and help just like that. Why had he given in so easily? Was it because he enjoyed feeling her breath on his neck? Was it because he wanted her to be close with him as he worked? The excuse at the time was to test her abilities as a psychic. But L started to doubt that excuse even more.

"Sir," Watari interrupted L's thought process. L had almost forgotten Watari was even there. He looked to Watari for the first time since he's been there. "Please inform me of your thoughts. I am here to help you." Watari was serious. L had been quiet for so long that he knew L was actually considering the probability of being in love. As much as Watari enjoyed the idea of L having some sort of affection for someone, he knew L was not the type to just understand such feelings so easily; especially for a girl such as Alice. She was unpredictable and even more so, uncontrollable.

L felt some of the pressure lifted off his shoulders. He had never felt so grateful to have Watari around.

"I am conflicted Watari."

* * *

Alice raced up the second flight of stairs with Matt right behind her. She hadn't stopped running around for what felt like a good hour and a half. Matt was even starting to lose his breath. He wasn't as in shape as she was since he wasn't one for running around. He was the type to stay behind scenes and let others do the dirty work for him.

"WATARI! WHERE DID YOU GO?" Alice shouted out, her voice echoing down the narrow halls. She had lost Watari as well as L at that point. She had no idea where he had gone, but she was sure she would find him with L. Matt finished climbing the last step to the third floor. He grabbed hold of his knees and took in deep breaths to try and calm his heart down. There were way too many stairs in the house and Matt hated it. Since Alice got no answer in return, she turned to Matt with her cheeks puffed out in frustration.

"Where could they be?" She had asked him for the hundredth time. Matt straightened himself out and sighed.

"Have you tried the basement?"

Alice pursed her lips together tightly. "The basement! THAT'S IT!" She freaked out. She then ran over to Matt and flew her arms around him. Matt's expression when from tired to shock, though it wasn't a hug that Alice was giving him to thank him for the idea. Alice wanted to move faster, and Matt was only slowing her down. So she picked him up and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"What the!" Matt panicked as his stomach sunk into her shoulder. He never expected Alice to be so strong. He was taller than Alice by a good few inches so he never imaged she could lift him so easily.

"LET'S GO!" She cheered as she started to make her way down the stairs.

"Alice, I can walk! Put me down!"

* * *

"What is your opinion Watari?" L asked his friend. Watari nodded his head after listening to L's concerns. It sounded like L truly felt something for the girl no matter how he looked at it. It was obvious that it even started from the moment they met. In the back of Watari's mind that excited him since L had never been interested in a relationship before. Not even in his adolescent teenage years. It was always about work. So the fact that L even considered somebody else to be important to him in that way left Watari hopeful that eventually L would find true happiness. But the fact that it was Alice that he was interested in sort of scared him. Alice was the exact opposite of L, which was probably why L was interested in her in the first place. But Watari wasn't so sure L would be able to handle her. He wasn't about to tell L that though. Watari adored Alice, and if anybody deserved to have L's heart it was her. For the moment, Watari was just going to have to let L decided all on his own. There was nothing he could do anyway. It was in fates hands.

"I believe you have every right to question yourself. If you truly do have feelings for her, then the only way to prove it is by experimentation."

L accepted that answer and agreed with Watari. The only way to truly know was to experiment on himself. He was going to have to look into Alice's eyes and see what his heart will do. That was the only way to prove if his affection was real, or all just in his head.

That's when Watari felt something was wrong. A shiver went up his spine and that only meant one thing.

Alice was coming.

He didn't really know how he knew, but it was as if he had a sixth sense for when she was going to cause trouble. It had been quiet for too long, and the fact that she continued to ask him where L was worried him. He had told her different places where he could have been, but he was lying to her so L could get some rest. It had worked for a while, but she had stopped coming to him after the third time he sent her on a wild goose chase. Now he could feel her presence was near, and it was only a matter of time until disaster struck.

"_Oh L! Come out come out wherever you are!_" The hairs on the back of Watari's neck stood on end. Her voice was quiet, but she was getting closer. L looked over to the door after hearing her voice. His heart pounded against his chest like a drum. She was coming and that seemed to excite him. On the side, they could also hears Matt's voice, almost as if he was struggling with something. Watari cleared his throat to get L's attention again.

"Sir, do you wish for me to do something about her?" He struggled with the words. Watari wasn't sure if L was ready to face her yet; especially when she sounded like that. The stomping of her feet was loud enough to be heard by the astronauts in space.

But before L could answer Watari, the door was kicked open with a loud _bang_. It smacked the wall and left the room in an echo of vibrations from the wood and metal handle. Alice was just on the other side setting her foot down just after kicking the door. On her shoulder was none other than Matt, and she was quick to toss him onto the armchair that was next to the entrance of the room. Matt winced as he hit the cushion with his legs draped over the armrest.

Alice was breathing heavily. Her hair was a complete mess and one of the sleeves on her shirt and off her shoulder, giving her appearance a more wild look. Her eyes went straight to L's.

L went numb.

When Alice felt she could breathe normally again, her frown turned into a smile and she laughed breathlessly.

"There you are." She laughed at L, her eyes shined radiantly.

That's when L knew.

Dear god he loved her. And he really did mean the word love, no matter how ridiculous the word was. Her smile was pure and her over exaggerated personality only lifted his spirits. Even if her hair was sticking out in some places, that didn't matter to him. In fact, he thought she looked good with messy hair. And even though she had a cartoon character of a fairy on her shirt and shorts that matched the game of chess, he didn't care. It only meant that she felt comfortable enough to walk around like that in front of everyone without being judged. She even felt comfortable enough to barge into L's private space without knocking and smile at him as if everything was alright. Then there was the moment she had just thrown Matt away as if he was nothing. Her strength was surprising and considerably unladylike, but that's what L seemed to like about her most.

She didn't look at L like most people did. She looked upon L as a friend. She was somebody close enough to his heart that he even allowed her to blow a hole in that ship and then let her go with a warning.

As much as it pained him to admit it, it was love. A feeling he thought would never exist for him.

"L?" She breathed out again, wondering why he was being so quiet and staring at her.

And she was never going to know how he felt. L was going to suppress it no matter what. He may have realized his feelings, but she was never going to find out how he felt about her. He was going to keep his feelings to himself until the day he died.

* * *

Thank you for reading the chapter!

**Frogata, Stormygio, HybridRebellion, ****Sick Sweetheart, ****Tailsdoll123, ****Sobubbles1, ****YaoiLoverDeathNote1, ****Clayr411, ****Maria-Chocolate-Chan, ****XBloodMageRikaX, ****and VerityEldrich! **(Thank you all so much for your kind words!)

**Alice: **The whole ending up in her bed without her remembering is all up to your imagination **=D**. Having nothing spelled wrong for me is like a miracle! I find it hard to believe, but I'm am going to take your word for it. I'm really happy to have brightened up your day and I hope you had a fun shopping trip! Buy anything good? Thank you for the recommendation. I will check it out =P YAY 200 REVIEWS!**  
**

**monsterousmaiden646: **It will come along soon I promise. Just give it some time to build. Every relationship has to build a good foundation first =). **  
**

** g-minor-art:** I know I've already said this to you but I'm going to say it again anyway. Thank you so much for the picture! You made Tinker and Henchman perfectly. Its like you took the image from my brain and put it onto paper. I may sound a bit over-dramatic, but I love it!

**alicelouise'x:** Thank you so much! **XD** You know it's funny, you are the second Alice to read the story. I absolutely love the name Alice, so that automatically makes me love you (If that's okay. I don't want to be known as the creepy author who sexually harasses her readers...). Anyway...I'm so glad that you love her and Fabron. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**AraCookie: **Thank you, _Merci! _First of all, I am only slightly jealous of that fact that you are in France. It's actually one of the places I want to visit. Second, your review was very constructive and I appreciate every word of it! I am thrilled that you like my story so much and I will keep writing, you have my word.**  
**

** smiles-4-cake:** HA! Orange cheesecake! that sound delicious. I've never had it before, but now I really want to. I have a feeling nobody would win that battle, mainly because they are both head-strong. Thank you so much for reviewing! **=)**


	25. A Favor Well Overdue

Greetings fellow Fan-Fiction lovers **=D**

Welcome to chapter 25 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

The reviews have been getting more intense! (I love it)

I feel like I should be responding to everyone, but I don't want to write a novel at the end of my chapters.

I love you all no matter what, so don't forget that! (And not that creepy stalker kind of love...maybe...)

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**A Favor Well Overdue**

Alice waved a hand in front of L's face. He had been starring at her without saying a word, and that concerned her. She leaned down in front of his face to try and get him out of his trance.

"L?" She tried his name again only a few inches away. Alice was relieved to see him blink.

"Yes Alice?" L finally found his voice. It sounded surprisingly calm to him. He thought he was just going to choke, but incredibly he was able to keep himself composed. He quickly thanked his training in stressful situations. Without his professional ego kicking in, he probably would have just been a mess; especially with the fact that she was only inches away from him. If he were to lean just a little bit closer to her, he could probably touch her nose with his.

"I have a present for you." She smiled in return, glad to see that he was finally talking. For a moment there Alice thought he was mad at her. Next time she'll rethink using her foot to open the door.

L was thrown off by the word present. His heart fluttered at the idea, but he made sure to keep his facial expression neutral.

"Present?"

"I got you a souvenir from France."

"Souvenir…?" L extended the word. He had been with Alice in France. Technically receiving a so called souvenir from her would be a contradiction. Though it was Alice he was talking to. She was a contradiction.

"Hold out your hand and close your eyes."

L didn't move a muscle. He shifted his eyes over to Watari to see what his reaction was. Watari was keeping himself relatively calm. He was already so used to Alice's domineering personality that he had developed an immunity to it. He was nervous about L though. Not long ago L rationalized his feelings about Alice and now he was faced with her only just a few inches away from him. He only hoped L's heart was strong enough to handle her being so close.

L sighed out loud and held out his hand with his palm up. He wasn't about to say no to her anyway. So closing his eyes, he prepared himself for the worst. Knowing Alice, she was probably going to give him something unusual.

Alice bit her bottom lip and reached into her back pocket. It was small, so she had no trouble hiding it in there. Pulling her hand out with the tiny object in her fist, she hovered her hand over his open palm. Even though his eyes were closed, he could still feel the heat from her hand. It was comforting to L and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that all those other moments she had been near him were heartening. It was almost as if her physical form left him in a state of peace; which was completely redundant, due to the fact that it was Alice. And she was anything but peaceful.

When L felt the tiny object touch his skin, he flinched. He half expected it to have some spikes or some grotesque texture that even the most intolerant of people would not be able to handle. But the object was small and long with the feeling of metal and plastic. Nothing like what L was expecting.

"Okay, open your eyes." Her voice rang in his ears. It was like a hymn to a melody that had the perfect pitch. How he had never noticed before was beyond him. When he opened his eyes to see what was, his eyes went straight for Alice's instead of the object in his hand. She was looking to him with eager eyes. They carried so much joy that L thought she would erupt. She was biting down on her bottom lip suppressing a smile. She most likely wanted to say something but she had enough dignity to wait until L gave his opinion. Knowing that he had to say something quick, he looked to the object in his hand. He smiled for a fraction of a second when he saw that it was a key-chain of a panda bear. On the Panda's head was a tiny beret that symbolized the French culture. The Panda also sported a thin mustache which didn't really make much sense. The Panda already had hair growing under its nose, so just the idea of another layer of fur growing in a different color over its already furry lip seemed illogical. But L just accepted it none the less. It was the symbolism that truly mattered anyway. The memories of Alice calling him a Panda Bear replayed in L's mind continuously.

"You love it right?" She squealed a little, unable to hold back any longer. As much as L wanted to look into her eyes and disclose his most personal thoughts about the key-chain, he could not. He would sound foolish for one, and two, he would give away his affection for her which he was determined to keep to himself. So instead, he rationalized it just as he always would.

"Panda Bears don't originate in France. Even if it is wearing a beret, the symbolism still seems contrived."

Alice frowned which caused L's heart to sink.

"Well fine, if you didn't want it then just say so." She reached out to grab it from his hand. L closed his hand before she could take it. Alice raised an eyebrow at him.

"I never said I wouldn't accept it." He said quickly to explain himself. Alice's smile returned.

Matt finally was able to break free from the shock of being carried down four flights of stairs. He looked over to Alice who was just in front of L, leaning close to his face. Watari was off to the side watching as well, only Matt had noticed Watari was looking more pale than usual. He was obviously distressed about something. Shrugging it off though, he rubbed his stomach to try and bring some life back into it. It had been crushed by Alice's shoulder.

"Bloody hell Alice, since when do you have the strength of an ox?"

Alice looked behind her at Matt.

"You're light as a feather." She shrugged her shoulders as if that was normal. Somehow Matt took that as an insult. The fact that she was able to lift him so easily only demeaned him.

"I don't mean to be rude and interrupt." Watari wade in. All of them looked to Watari at the same time, almost forgetting that he was in the room. "Alice, it would be best if you moved on to another activity. L and I have to complete some other business at the moment. I know your intentions were pure, but delaying any longer will only cause more problems."

Alice snorted and walked back over to Matt who was wiping himself off. He felt he needed to after having been carried around in such a disgraceful manner.

"Have it your way." She huffed, grabbing Matt's collar.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Matt choked as he was dragged out of the room. He had to walk backwards since she was pulling him from behind. The door was shut soon after, leaving L and Watari in silence. L finally took in a deep breath, not even realizing he wasn't even breathing that whole time. Having Alice in the room only moments after his confession to Watari put a lot of strain on him. He could finally relax after she had gone. He quietly thanked Watari for taking control of the situation when L was clearly unable too. Taking the key-chain in his hand, he held it with two fingers and let it dangle in front of him. The bear swayed back and forth, almost as if it was dancing.

"What have I gotten myself into?" He sighed, thinking about Alice's playful smile.

* * *

The week had gone by so quickly as if every day was in fast-forward. Alice had managed to get back in the grove of life in the Wammy house. Every morning she would wake up and have some orange juice. The afternoons consisted of helping the Housekeeper, Miss Jane with some of the chores. Alice didn't have any excuses since she wasn't going to take any of the lessons that Watari had offered. Though after the hours spent doing some of the dishes, Alice was starting to rethink her options. By the late afternoons the children would be done with their lessons and Alice got to play with them. Those were her favorite moments. So many puzzles, card games, outside activities, and arts and crafts to be done in such little time, but Alice had no trouble accomplishing it all. Every activity was planned by her and each day seemed like it was getting better then the next. There was only one problem that Alice couldn't seem to handle.

L.

She hadn't seen L since the time she gave him the key-chain. He had been locked up in that basement for the whole week doing god knows what. Watari would occasional emerge to help with the lessons or to check up once in a while, but he spent most of his days with L down in the basement. More than anything Alice wanted to know why L was avoiding her. She knew he was avoiding her since every time she attempted to go see him, Watari would stop her. He would tell her every time that L was too busy to play; though for L to be busy for seven days in a row seemed unlikely to Alice. L had solved a serial killer case in just two days, so she couldn't imagine a case taking that long to solve.

But she couldn't worry about that now. At the moment she was playing with one of the children.

"Alwish, look what I made." Little Rebecca held up her drawing to show Alice. She was only four years old and still had trouble pronouncing Alice's name, but that's what made Alice love her even more. She was the second youngest in the house and Alice took her in as if she was her own. Her brown eyes held a sense of innocents while her brown curly hair that fell just at her shoulders made her look regal. She looked like a daughter from some wealthy family with her cheeks rosy red and her lips perfectly shaped and round. Her skin was smooth like porcelain and her frame was delicate. Yet she would always find ways to get into places she wasn't aloud. She was a tiny porcelain ninja that Alice was determined to tame so she could harness her power. The youngest in the house was a six month old baby name Bouncy, though that was Miss Jane's duty to take care of him. That was why Alice had to help out with the chores. Miss Jane couldn't do them all and still take care of the child, so Alice stepped in to help.

"So cute!" Alice squealed as she looked at the drawing Rebecca had made. It was an attempt of a bunny, though it had no legs and oddly resembled a large green bean with ears and a fluffy tail. Alice still loved it none the less.

"It's a bwunny." She sang happily. She was so excited about it that she couldn't hold it up without shaking it. Rebecca always seemed to replace letters or add the letter "W" whenever she spoke. Alice thought it was adorable, though Roger didn't think so. He was in charge of helping Rebecca learn proper English. To spite him, Alice made sure to praise Rebecca every time she heard her use the letter "W". So far, Alice was winning.

"I bet you'll become a world famous artist Rebecca." Alice giggled, taking the drawing from her and hanging it on the wall behind them. They were both in the playroom drawing on the ground. Papers were littered around them along with broken crayons and pencils. The only other person in the room was Near, and he was working quietly in the corner on a puzzle as always. It was Sunday and that meant the children got to have a day off for fun. Most of them were outside since it was still summer and it was nice out, though Alice felt she had been outside too much for the week. The past few days have just been her and the kids going outside to play, and Alice never thought she would ever get sick of the sun. Since Rebecca was so fair skinned, she couldn't go out as much. That was just another good reason Alice was inside that day playing with her.

Rebecca clapped at the idea of being a famous artist. At that age, everything seemed to excite her. Alice only wished she was that ignorant to feel such bliss. Near looked over to the two on the other side of the room with interest. He still worked on his puzzle, but the puzzle wasn't as entertaining as the two coloring. Alice had earlier offered him to come join them, but he refused. Observing was far more easier then participating. Near wasn't confidant in his artistic skills anyway.

"Okay how about we draw a puppy next." Alice offered to Rebecca. Rebecca nodded her head up and down vigorously. Alice laughed and turned around to grab another piece of paper. They were stacked mostly behind her, though stacked wouldn't be the right word to describe it. It was more like piled in the form of a mountain. Taking the top piece, Alice turned back around to give it to Rebecca. Alice gasped when she notice Rebecca was no longer sitting down in front of her.

"Rebecca?" Alice panicked, looking around the room. That's when her heart stopped. She noticed Rebecca climbing out the window onto the roof outside, her little legs just slipping out the window with the rest of her. "REBECCA!" Alice screamed, jumping from the floor and stumbling over to the window to grab her. She had been only looking away for a second and already Rebecca was living up to her nick name of being the porcelain ninja. How she had managed to climb the window so fast only boggled Alice's mind.

Alice quickly got a hold of Rebecca legs before she could crawl any further onto the roof. Getting around her waist with one arm, Alice pulled her inside and fell onto her butt with an exhausted sigh. Rebecca clapped and laughed playfully as if the whole ordeal was just a game to her. She bounced up and down on Alice's lap as Alice rubbed her forehead with one hand.

"Again! Again!" Rebecca chanted wanting to go out the window once more. Alice held on tight to the girl and told her no sternly. Rebecca whined but listened to her anyway. She loved Alice enough to know when she should behave. Alice turned next to Near who was still working on his puzzle as if nothing really happened.

"Near, why didn't you stop her?"

"You seemed to have done a fine job of that on your own," Near answered her calmly, fitting the next puzzle piece into place. Alice huffed and turned away from him. Near may have been cute on the outside, but on the inside he was nothing but mischievous and dark. Standing up, Alice lifted Rebecca up and held her close to see if she had any scratches.

"ALICE!" A familiar voice shouted outside the room. His voice was harsh and loud which only meant Mello was angry. Though Mello always seemed to be angry, so who knows if he actually was. Looking to the door, Alice watched Mello appear moments later giving her a hard glare. It was a normal look for Mello though, so she wasn't threatened in the least.

"Yes Mello?" Alice raised an eyebrow at the leather wearing teen.

"Mewow!" Rebecca giggled uncontrollably, holding out her hands to try and grab him. For some odd reason the four year old adored Mello. And an even stranger phenomena was the fact that Mello seemed to like Rebecca as well; though he would never admit it. Mello always did put on a great act to show that he didn't care for her in the least, though every time she was shoved into his arms, he would never let her go until someone took her from him.

Mello cringed at the sound of his disfigured name. "I'm not here for you brat." He said to Rebecca with a sneer. Rebecca wasn't at all fazed by Mello's cruel remark. In fact she laughed even more. Alice shook her head and walked up to Mello. Mello tried to back away, but Alice was quick to shove Rebecca into his arms. Rebecca cheered for joy as Mello struggled to keep her still.

"Damnit Alice I don't want her!" He growled at Alice knowing full well he couldn't yell at the cute little girl in his arms. Alice was always fascinated by the soft spot he had for Rebecca.

"Too late." Alice grinned nice and wide, pleased with herself.

"Mewow want to colwer?" She asked him innocently. Her curls bounced with her. Alice could see a vein form on Mello's forehead. He was struggling to ignore the little girl. Alice only giggled at the sight of Mello with Rebecca in his arms. For a guy wearing all leather and long devilish hair, he sure looked adorable. "I made a bwunny." She continued on in hopes to try and get Mello to play with her. She kept playing with his hair a little at the same time. She always seemed to be fascinated by it. Mello sighed and pinched the little girls' nose to keep her from talking.

"Quiet you." He ordered, though not as firmly as he would with everyone else. Alice smiled warmly at the gesture. Rebecca went silent after that, letting Mello talk to Alice. Her smile never left her face. In the corner, Near still continued to work on his puzzle, though the sight of Mello being nice gave him some hope. Even though they were enemies, Near still considered Mello a friend. Just seeing Mello that way meant that there was some humanity inside of him, even if it was subtle.

Mello wasn't even paying attention to Near in the corner. He could care less. At the moment he just wanted to talk with Alice without any more interruptions.

"I need you to come down stairs. We have some unfinished business."

Alice started to sweat. Whatever Mello meant by that, he didn't sound too happy. She knew then that she was in trouble, but for what she had no idea. She nodded her head at Mello to show that she had heard him. Mello accepted that answer and turned around to leave.

"Follow me then," he said sternly, unaware that the girl was still in his arms as he walked out the room. Alice smirked when he wasn't looking, delighted at the scene of Rebecca's hair bouncing in the rhythm of Mello's footsteps. Near watched Alice follow Mello out the room. He grew a little disappointed that his live entertainment was leaving, but not letting that disappointment get to him, he continued piecing the puzzle together quietly alone. Just like he always would.

When Alice finally made it out into the living room that looked out into the driveway, she noticed Matt sitting on the couch with his handheld game only inches from his face. He looked like he was truly concentrating on the game in front of him. He didn't even look up to great his friend who walked in before her. The guy was carrying a four year old child in his arms and Matt didn't even give a second glance. Obviously the game was far more important. Mello turned around to face Alice, knowing full well he wasn't going to get Matt's attention anytime soon.

"So what's the unfinished business?" Alice had to ask, not enjoying the fact that Mello was taking advantage of her by being quiet. The more he stayed silent, the more paranoid she would become.

But then he smirked. That's when Alice knew he had the upper hand. Whatever the case was going to be, she knew she wasn't going to be able to win.

"Do you remember the time me and Gameboy over there had to clean the kitchen while you got to scamper away and talk with L?"

Matt waved his hand to show that he was _Gameboy,_ in case Alice wasn't paying attention. She was surprised he was even listening.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The next day I tried to kill you."

"I remember," Alice nodded. It was so common to hear those words from Mello that the conversation sounded as if they were just talking about the weather.

"Instead of killing you, we made a compromise instead,"

Alice pursed her lips together, trying to remember the day after the kitchen disaster. It had happened so long ago that her memory was a bit foggy.

"You agreed to owe me one favor."

"I don't remember saying that." Alice denied it quickly. The last thing she would ever want to do was a favor for Mello. God knows what he would make her do. His sadistic mind would probably end her up in jail, and she already had a taste of that in France. She promised herself she would never go back again.

"You can't deny it Alice. I have proof."

"No you don't." Alice half laughed, finding the idea of Mello having any evidence ridiculous.

"Matt," Mello snapped his fingers. Matt glided up from the couch with the system still in his hand. He never took his eyes off it as he held up a packet of papers that had words written on them. It was a thick packet bound together using metal clips.

"Back in chapter 5 you said, and I quote "Okay. Okay. I get it, so how about I owe you one. Anything you want, I promise," Matt repeated her words in a monotone. Alice's face went stiff as a rock.

"You lie!" She gasped, grabbing the document from Matt's hand. Matt was surprised to feel the packet leave his hand. He finally looked up from his game to look at his surroundings. In front of him was Alice desperately looking through the papers to read what she had said before. He jumped when he saw Mello next to him, only for some odd reason he was holding a very small child in his arms. Of course it had to have been Rebecca since there was no other person in the word that he would get that close to.

"What's with the kid?" Matt questioned his friend. Mello went from calm to complete shock as he looked to Rebecca in his arms.

"Shit I forgot!" He freaked a little. Rebecca laughed at Mello's expense. She always enjoyed Mello's overreactions towards anything that annoyed him. "Alice, take her back!" Mello then ordered, looking back over to the platinum blonde. Alice wasn't even listening to either of the boys. She was too busy slowly disintegrating away like fine dust in the wind. After reading back her own words, she felt like death had just come to take her away. Owing Mello just meant that she had signed her soul to the devil. And there was no way she was getting out of it. The proof was in the papers.

"Look! Alwice is turning into swand!" Rebecca giggled and clapped loudly, her cheeks as rosy as ever.

* * *

"I'm not getting on that." Alice turned her body away from Mello. They both were standing outside next to the entrance gate. Mello was sitting on his CBR 1000 Honda motorcycle with two helmets in his arms. Alice had never known Mello even owned a vehicle, let alone a motorcycle. His bike was shiny black, just like L's Bentley's. It seemed that in the Wammy house, black was the color of choice for any vehicle.

For the past ten minutes Mello had been trying to get Alice to come with him into town. She of course could not refuse him since she owed him a favor, but she wasn't stupid. A motorcycle was dangerous enough, and with Mello driving, that only made it worse. All she could envision was crashing on the gravel road and her face turning into tapioca pudding.

"Get on the bike Alice." He ordered once more, holding out the helmet to her.

"Can't we just walk?"

"I could tie you to my bike and drag you if you like?" Mello slipped on his helmet in the process. It fit perfectly on his head as if the helmet was made just for him. It was a dark blue with some white lightning designs. The visor that shielded his eyes was tinted black so he could see better in the sun. Alice had to admit he look rather good with it. He fit the persona of a bad boy pretty well despite his personality of actually being one.

"No thank you," Alice politely declined his offer.

"Then get on." He held out the other helmet to her again, his eyes digging into her own through the tinted visor on his helmet. The blue in them just shined through with ease. Alice gulped and took the red helmet with the same white lightning design from him with shaky hands. She was going to regret it, but she didn't have much of a choice. She ought to have been grateful anyway. The favor Mello had asked of her didn't turn out to be as hell bound as she thought it was going to be. All he wanted her to do was buy him chocolate. Alice would have never guessed his request would be so simple. So the fact that she had to ride a motorcycle shouldn't have been a problem for her. But she still couldn't help her irrational fear.

With one last sigh in defense, she slipped on the helmet. It was a little loose, most likely because it was for Matt. He would be the only one to wear the color red. Having the helmet on, she felt like she was in her own little enclosed space where noise outside was muffled by the sound of her own deep breaths. But she heard Mello loud and clear when he ordered her to get on his bike. Alice groaned and tried to think of happy thoughts. Puppies playing in the grass, kittens chasing butterflies, L eating a piece of cake; anything really just to get her mind off the fact that she had to ride on a motorcycle with Mello. It was going to be her first time on a bike, and she was hoping her first time would have been with someone tall dark and handsome; someone who would sweep her off her feet.

Instead it was Mello. Irritating, loud mouthed Mello, who found the world around his feet to be inferior to his all mighty power. Doing as she was told, she got onto the bike behind Mello. She found it surprisingly easy for her to get on considering she had never had any experience doing so before. But then Mello just had to ruin her sense of accomplishment by speaking.

"Hold on tight. I don't want to have to clean up your dead body if you fall off."

Alice took offense. She also could feel her nerves kicking into high gear. The last thing she wanted to hear was the idea of falling off. For the past ten minutes that's all she could think about. She had been trying so hard to forget that.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." She mumbled, slipping her arms around his waist. Luckily he was skinny enough for her to get a good hold on him. The last thing she wanted was to rely on Mello with her life, but she had no choice. The only small saving grace Alice had was the fact that she could feel his muscles under his leather jacket. She knew how wrong it was for her to think about him that way, but her mind went there unconsciously. She was only human after all.

Mello tried to ignore the arms around his waist as much as he could. His focus was on the chocolate that she was going to have to buy. The last thing he wanted to think about was the hands that were gripping onto his jacket and the chest pressed up against his back. Chocolate. That was what was important to him. He could care less about the girl behind him. At least that's what he kept telling himself. He was only human after all.

When he felt that Alice was ready, he revved up the engine. It roared into life with smoke coming out of the exhaust. Twisting the handle, Mello made his engine growl. He wanted to test its sound to make sure it was fit to ride. He was pleased at how raspy and powerful it sounded. Kicking off the ground, the bike jerked forward causing Alice to tighten her hold on Mello. Mello could feel his ribs being crushed. She had an incredible grip that almost caused Mello to lose focus. But he gained back that control in no time. If there was one thing he knew how to do well, it was riding his Honda.

* * *

Alice had no idea what she was thinking before when she said she hated motorcycles. They. Were. Amazing! Alice never thought she would enjoy one so much, but having the wind in her hair and the extreme speed flowing through her veins just seemed to give her a rush. Even the sound of the motor excited her. The motorcycle had become her new favorite toy.

The ride into town had to have been her favorite part, because most of the road was just long stretches of bare concrete. Field was on either side with the occasional old barn or missionary. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, leaving Alice thankful that her helmets visor was working properly. The Wammy house was a little ways away from the denser part of the town, but it only took them fifteen minutes to start to see more clustered buildings. Winchester had always been incredibly pretty, from its nearly one thousand year old cathedral to its 12th century castle. Every part of the town seemed to look as if time had stopped. Buildings decorated with stone art and bricks of dull reds and grays. Then there was the famous Guildhall with a clock tower mounted on top. The tower was not as grand as the one located in England's capital, but the bell still sounded like an angle's hymn playing every hour or so.

Entering the high streets of Winchester, one can't help but feel a sense of the past, almost as if a horse and buggy should be trotting down the road. Of course it wasn't hard to find one of those anyway, but still there was that feeling. Since the streets were already packed with either locals or tourists, Mello was lucky to have taken his motorcycle; otherwise they probably would have been stuck in traffic. Mello was able to maneuver around any traffic and travel down any narrower streets that would have otherwise stopped a car. There was the occasional honk from those who didn't like his cheating methods, but Mello could care less about what people thought. He was on an important mission which obviously left him with more authority to do what he pleased. Alice couldn't have cared less either. She was too busy enjoying the ride on the motorcycle. Her grip had loosened considerably which Mello was more than thankful for.

When they finally reached their destination, Alice was not ready to get off. She would have rather continued the drive. But Mello pulled over anyway in front of an old antique looking building. The bricks supported the first floor but on the second floor, wood panels were lined up horizontally. Separating the two materials was a wooden sign that said in big bold gothic letters; _Winchester Chocolates._ The display window in front was beautifully decorated with a glass case that displayed numerous amounts of chocolates. From large bars dipped in almonds to tiny bite size treats that had any sort of filling imaginable. The store was connected to other shops as well, but Mello only cared for the one he parked in front of.

The people that walked by were highly interested in the two on the bike. Not to be rude though, they continued on their way, only giving the occasional glace. Mello turned off his motor and leaned back a bit, feeling Alice's arms drop away from his waist. A chill hit his stomach and he was only slightly disappointed the warmth before that was protecting him was gone. Taking off his helmet, he shook his head to fix his hair so it would fall back into place.

"Mello." He heard his name being called from behind him. Mello turned his head to see what Alice wanted. His whole body shivered in fright when he saw the sparkle in her eyes and the humungous smile on her face. She was gripping her helmet so tight between her hands that Mello thought she was going to crush it. "I love your motorcycle!" She squealed in a high pitch girly voice. Mello looked like he was going to faint. He would have never imagined Alice's opinion would change so drastically. But then again, his bike was amazing. He should have known that she would love something thrilling and dangerous.

"Ah…thanks." He mumbled at last, turning away from her to try and act uninterested.

"We went so fast! On the way home could you let me drive?"

"What?" Mello jumped out of his awkwardness. "No! This is my bike and you are forbidden to ever drive it! Got it?" He turned back to her with a glare. Alice started to pout in return.

"Aw come on!"

"Forget it! Now get off!"

She huffed, but did as she was told. Lifting one leg over, she was standing up on the sidewalk in no time and puffing out her cheeks while looking away. Mello was just so unfair. She could have driven that motorcycle with no trouble at all. It couldn't have been that hard anyway. Mello could do it, so why couldn't she?

Mello was right behind her, his helmet in one arm and his hand in his pant pocket. Alice looked down at the helmet in her arms and started to wonder.

"What do we do with these?" She asked while holding hers up more.

"You keep holding it." He answered with a sour expression while walking past her toward the shop. Alice made the same face.

"But I don't want to!" She raced after him. Mello ignored the girl and pushed open the door to the shop, making a bell up over the door ring. It sounded light and inviting, making the surprisingly empty shop feel like home. Alice let Mello go on ahead as she looked in awe at the shops interior design. There were barrels of taffy lined along just one of the walls. In the middle were shelves full of different colorful confections from gum drops to giant lollypops. The wall opposite of the taffy had all the chocolate. That's where Mello went to first of course. At the back of the store there was the wooden front desk with the display case next to it. Inside were little chocolate bites like the ones in the display window up front. Alice took in a deep breath. The scent was sweet and sugary, remaindering her of L. She frowned when the thought of that man came up. Shaking her head, she quickly tried to forget about him. The last thing she wanted to do was to ruin her blissful moment by thinking about L. She had more important things to do anyway, like buy chocolate for Mello and then maybe convince him to let her drive.

"Well hey there cutie," A playful voice came from behind her. She jumped at the sound and started to look to see who it was that was addressing her. Walking up on either side of her were two young men with mischievous smiles. The one on her right had dirty blonde hair falling to his shoulders, layered to look not as long as it really was. He had deep green eyes that were almost like emeralds. His skin was slightly tanned but Alice had to admit he wasn't bad to look at. The one on her left was a little more rough looking with a mohawk, though his head wasn't completely shaven. He still had a full head of hair, it was just the portion in the middle was sticking up more. He had about twenty piercings on just his ears, and just like his friend on her right, he had emerald green eyes. Alice could already tell they were hitting on her just by the look in their eyes. It was almost as if they were two wolfs staking out their pray. It was too bad that she wasn't just some sheep that they could devour. Alice smirked at their crude advancements.

"Can I help you lads?"

"Ha, did you hear that Jace, she's called us lads." The blonde spoke to his friend with that same smile. His friend Jace laughed wickedly.

"Why don't you come with us? We know a great pub that I think you would enjoy."

Alice turned to the one named Jace and raised an eyebrow. Eventually she was going to go visit some of the pubs in Winchester, but she wasn't sure if the two guys would be good company to bring along. She's seen enough movies in her life to know not to just wonder off with a couple strangers, even if they did look handsome. Alice crossed her arms and thought about for a second.

"This place is boring love. Just come with us and we'll show you a good time." The blonde grew impatient, grabbing onto her arm. Alice went rigid at his touch, not liking the contact one bit.

"Hey! Let…"She started to say to him, but the blonde let go immediately looking right past Alice with wide fearful eyes. Suddenly Alice felt her other arm being tugged back and she was dragged away from the two boys forcefully. The grip on her arm was tight and she ended up colliding into someone roughly. The familiar smell of leather and chocolate made her realize that it was Mello who had grabbed her. She tilted her head up a bit and saw Mello in front of her still holding onto her arm with a strong grip. It was his face that surprised her the most. Alice had always seen Mello glare, but she had never seen him that pissed off before. He looked like he was truly going to kill those two boys. His eyes had never held so much hate. Not even Near ever got a look like that. It was a look that even Alice found herself starting to shake at. She would never want him to look at her like that.

"Leave." Was the only word he said, and it was the only word he needed to say, because that's all it took to get those two boys to run out of the shop with their tails between their legs. Alice never saw somebody run away so fast before in her life. Alice actually would have run away too had Mello not been holding her arm. When the boys were gone and the store went back to being quiet and peaceful, Mello let go of her arm. He turned around before Alice could say anything. Alice was speechless though. She had no idea what to even say to him after witnessing that. Alice watched Mello take in a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Mello?" Alice said unconsciously. She didn't even realize she was going to speak until it was already out of her mouth. Mello turned back around and held up a chocolate bar to her. He composed himself so fast that Alice would have never guessed he was going to kill somebody before.

"You're going to buy me this."

Alice didn't answer right away, letting her eyes gaze into his for a couple more seconds to try and see if she could find that anger again. Just as fast as it had come, it was completely gone. She had no idea what had come over Mello. She had never seen him act that way before. Though she had only known him for almost two months, so she couldn't say he's never done something like that before. But she was thankful for his help none the less. Without his interruption, who knows what Alice would have done. There was a part of her that wanted to go with those boys, but she knew better than that. Her mind just wouldn't let her just say no even though she knew that it was the wrong thing to do. Next time she would have to restrain herself a little better. Having a level head was just something she was going to have to work on.

It was then out of nowhere she realized she was in trouble. Mello had just helped her, which meant…

Her heart stopped from the internal shock.

"Shit! I owe you again don't I?"

Mello unknowingly found himself smiling.

* * *

L paused from typing for a moment to look out the window. The sun was at high noon which cast a long shadow from his window all the way to the wall on the other side of the room. Watari looked up from the papers he was reading to see why L had stopped. He had been consistently typing away on his keyboard for what seemed like an hour. It had surprised him to hear him stop so suddenly.

"Is there something wrong L?"

L looked back to his keyboard while putting his thumb in-between his teeth. He chewed on his finger a little to relief some of the pressure off his chest.

"I do not understand why, but for some reason I feel angry."

Watari gave L a puzzled look.

"Could it be the case?"

"Possibly…" L lied, knowing full well the case wasn't the problem. He still however did not know where the source of anger was coming from. L gave a frustrated sigh. First love and now anger? What could possibly come next…?

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

**YaoiLoverDeathNote1, ****Saber Amane, ****HybridRebellion, ****verityeldrich, ****Tailsdoll123, ****EmoPanda522, ****jennyz, ****Cynitha Egami, and ****Sexii-chan!** (You all are worth all the awesomeness in the world)

**Stormygio: **Thank you! I fixed the word immediately after I read your review!

**g-minor-art: **Alice (the reviewer) would be proud to know she inspired someone. I'm also so happy you want to take more time in reviewing my story. I feel so special! RCS would be a perfect way to describe L feelings. I love it!

**Alice: **I love the fact that you consider that a short review, Ha! Hot Topic is an amazing story. The only down side to it is that it's crazy expensive. It's well worth it though. Oh and the prank I idea. I have not forgotten about it and I have ideas, but I'm still sorting out which ones I should use, so it might be a while. It will be awesome though! If I become so indecisive that I can't choose on my own, I might ask you in the future. Is that okay? It will be a general question though so I wont give anything away in the chapter. *Dances* -Sorry, I just randomly got excited. Probably because I just read your review** =D  
**

**Isshi Urahara: **YAY you're the only one who danced with me! You've made me so happy! *Claps*

**Frogata: **Goat cheese is tasty. I don't know about bee's knees though...

**MikaUchiha666: **LOL, I could so see that happening. Thank you so much for reading my story!

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Good lord! I have been trying to wrap my brain around this for a whole week! And it makes me feel even worse that little children can solve it faster then I can! I am going to hate to ask you, but what's the answer? (Ow the pain of asking! It hurts so much!)

**xxxIDKanimexxx: **A goddess 0.o? Wow, I've never been compared to a heavenly figure before. I'm so happy that I'm doing L right. He was the one character that I thought I would lose hold of. Thank you so much for reading my story!

**The Night's Wis:** I hope it was a good tear. I would hate to have my story be so awful that you would cry 0.o lol, thank you so much **=D**

**CaribbeanTrinidadian: **Thank you! I'm sure I'll find more ways to add quotes in from movies. They were really fun to use. Fabron appreciates the love as well.

**PhoenixPhlame:** I'm so glad you like all my characters **XD **I'm also happy that I could make you laugh! Thank you so much for reading!

**alicelouise'x:** I can tell you right now Fabron loves being worshiped, so you automatically get on his good list. I hope this chapter fulfilled your Mello craze, cause I just love Mello too. I'm so glad that I'm not going to be that creepy author! Yay for love! Thank you my precious reviewer Alice!

**AraCookie:** Plans? You've intrigued me. Now I really want to know. I feel so honored that my writing style it teaching you something new. Even if English isn't your first language, your reviews have been very well put together. I would have never guessed that English wasn't your first language.

**eternalsnowfox:** *Squeals* Thank you! It makes me so happy to hear that I'm keeping everyone in character. I do understand what you meant and I am truly honored that you think that way. I do try my hardest to learn what I'm going to write about and I'm glad that's showing. If you do find any spelling errors (Which happen more then I want them to), then you have every right to tell me about them. I really do love when reviewers help me with my spelling. Again, thank you!

**Kreiza: **I'm so glad you've come out of lurking! I am ecstatic at the thought of you loving Alice. Thank you so much for reading my story! **  
**


	26. Cops and Robbers

Welcome one and all!

This is chapter 26 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

**I bring the all important news!**

Soon this story will be translated into _French_! French people! Can you believe it? A wonderful reviewer of mine has offered to translate my story into French, and I couldn't be any more happier! When the translation comes out I will have the link posted on my Profile, so make sure to watch out for it if you want to see it in French. I want you all to thank **AraCookie** for doing the translation. I know I haven't stopped thanking her yet and I may never will.

Enjoy the chapter guys!

PEACE!**  
**

* * *

**Cops and Robbers **

Alice heard the bell ring behind her as she exited the candy shop. She had a small plastic bag in her hand that had Mello's chocolate inside. She of course paid for it since she had owed him a favor, but she was free at last. She no longer had any obligations towards him.

"Give me your helmet," Mello ordered, standing in front of his bike, or as Alice liked to call it "her favorite new toy". Giving him a skeptical look, she handed over the shiny red helmet. Mello took both helmets and pulled out a chain from one of the motorcycles compartments. Alice wasn't even aware that a motorcycle could have any storage units. With one click, he chained the helmets to the bike so nobody could take them. Alice felt a little annoyed after seeing that.

"What the hell? Why did you make me carry it if you could have done that all along?" Alice made a sour face. The helmet had been large and heavy. If she would have known she could have hooked it up to the bike, she would have done it in a heartbeat.

"Come with me, we still have more to do." Mello ignored her question.

"No way! I already bought you the chocolate. I'm done!" She crossed her arms forcefully, causing the plastic bag in her hand to sway back and forth. Mello copied her, but looked at her without any real emotion. He wasn't even angry which only worried Alice more. He was obviously hiding something from her.

"I saved you from those two perverted guys. That means you owe me again."

"I'm not going to count that," she tried to argue, though she knew that argument wasn't going to work. Just minutes before she had even admitted to Mello that she owed him yet again.

"Just shut up and follow me. We need to get off the main street." Mello looked away from her. Alice noticed that the whole time they had been talking Mello would occasional look around him as if he was waiting for something or someone. His expression was neutral but Alice could see the beads of sweat on his forehead. It could have been the heat, but it was perfect 70 degree weather. She doubted Mello was getting heat stroke.

"Why?" She decided to ask trying to observe his facial expressions more closely. The eyes always told the truth so Alice made sure to focus on them. But Mello wasn't going to answer. He shut down quickly and stomped over to her. With a frustrated grunt he grabbed her forearm and started to pull her with him. She yelped as she was jerked onward without her consent. He lead her away quickly from his bike and right up to an ally to get away from the crowds.

"Hey!" She shouted as she tried to get out of his grip. But it was no use. Mello was incredibly strong, even for Alice. His grip was so tight that she could already start to feel her own pulse in her arm. "Let go!" she cried out again as he pulled her further into the ally. The tourists had all watched Alice being dragged away. They didn't know if she was in danger or not, but none of the locals seemed to mind the two. It was almost as if a guy dragging a woman away was normal. So shrugging it off, the tourist continued with their site seeing and shopping. Alice would have loved to shop too, but Mello was determined to move away from all the commotion on the high street. Turing around the corner, they made it to one of the many backstreets of Winchester. The backside was a lot more condensed with much duller colors then the ones displayed in the high streets. They were like two different worlds. The high streets were full of life and colors while the backs streets were lifeless and dark. Alice figured Mello fit in perfectly with the scenery of the back streets. Nobody stared at him like they did back up in the high streets.

"Hurry up." Mello growled, growing more impatient.

"Where are you taking me?" Alice was determined to continue to fight. She wasn't willing to give in so easily; especially to Mello.

"The cemetery," Mello finally answered her question. Alice felt the blood drain from her face. Her first thought was of Mello killing her and burying her cold lifeless body six feet underground without a proper casket. The dirt would certainly ruin her hair!

"The cemetery?" She gulped.

"Yeah I need to pick something up." He was vague. Alice felt her heart beat return. A feeling of relief washed over her. She was thrilled to know that Mello wasn't going to kill her. But then again, what could have Mello needed that was in a cemetery?

"What are you picking up?" She asked loudly as she was pulled around another corner. They both at that point reached a more open area with a small misshapen fountain that had water in its base, but was no longer pouring water out like it should. Around it was green moss and patches of grass growing in-between the stones. Just beyond the broken fountain was a small church. The walls were covered in dirt and vines, but it didn't look as abandoned as the fountain was. There were obviously people who took care of the old building. Off to the right of the church was a cemetery. The exact one Mello needed to go to.

"That's none of your business." He continued to avoid her questions. He was still relatively calm for somebody who was walking fast. Alice had to sometimes run a little just to keep up with him. If he hadn't been holding onto her, she would have probably been left behind. She also didn't like the idea of Mello needing something from the cemetery. All she could imagine was some sort of black magic or old artifacts. Her worst fear was the thought of Mello making her dig up a grave to steal stuff. The last thing she wanted to be was a grave robber and violate somebody's resting place. She had enough of the dead coming to her already. She most certainly didn't want to go to them.

Good god, the dead!

Alice had almost forgotten that spirits hung around cemeteries. The place was a like block party for the neighborhood. Everyone that was buried in one usually hung around in the same place. They tended to be sentimental when it came to their own bodies. They stuck by them as if they could one day return and live again. Of course spirits could never come back to life, but that didn't stop them from trying. The ones in the cemeteries were also usually the ones who needed help. They were clearly aware that they were dead so the fact that they stayed behind only meant they still had unfinished business. That's where Alice came in. She was technically the mediator for the spirits.

But ever since she had been living in the Wammy house she had been lucky enough to be spirit free for the whole two months. It wasn't uncommon for the dead to leave her alone, but it has been the longest time since she actually spoke to any of them. It was almost like she's been on a vacation. But soon that vacation would end. It was only a matter of time until they would reach the cemetery. She wouldn't have mind going into the cemetery and meeting with the dead. It was Mello who was the problem. Mello along with practically the rest of the Wammy house had no idea she could speak to the dead. The only two people in the house that knew were L and Watari. She couldn't possibly just start talking to a spirit in front of Mello. Mello would only think she was crazy, which she already seemed to have the title of regardless of her ability to talk to dead people.

Alice knew that she had to stop herself from going into that cemetery. Digging her heals into the cobblestone ground she struggled to get out of Mello's grip once more. Mello was pulled back unexpectedly by her sudden defiant attitude.

"Hey!" He started to growl, losing his calm ever so slightly. He looked around frantically for a second which only caused Alice to get more annoyed. Whatever Mello was waiting for, Alice wasn't going to wait with him.

"I don't want to go in there." She pointed to the cemetery behind him. They had both made it to the small church within that short period of time. The twisted metal archway that led into the cemetery was just off to the right of the church. Alice could already see the headstones all line up perfectly behind the fence. When it came to architecture and landscape, Europe tended to always want order and structure. So it wasn't uncommon to find flowers lined up perfectly or hedges cut into perfect squares. Cemeteries were no exception.

"What are you talking about?" Mello finally gave Alice his full attention.

"I'm afraid of cemeteries." She lied, hoping her acting was paying off. It was incredibly hard to lie since she had absolutely no fear of cemeteries at all. In fact, cemeteries were like a playground for her. She had never been afraid of them even when she was a child. For most of her adolescent years she hung out in cemeteries just because she got tired of talking with the living. She mostly hated the pressure her family had put on her. The dead never seemed to care if she was doing well in school or not. They could care less about Alice's own life. That's what Alice liked the most about the dead.

"Are you kidding me?" Mello didn't take her seriously. He could see she was lying the moment she said it. He could tell that it was only an excuse to try and get away.

"It's true," She sighed dramatically to add a romantic effect. She may have overdone it, but she was proud of herself for sticking to the character.

"Bullshit." Mello was blunt. Alice glared in return. "Stop whining and get moving. I don't want to be here for long."

That sparked Alice's interest. If Mello wasn't willing to stay long, that gave her a better chance of not meeting with any of the spirits. A smile crept onto her face. Mello shuttered at her knew found happiness.

"Well if it's only going to be a short while, I guess I could tag along."

Mello was cautious with Alice, but he pulled her along anyway. He hadn't let go of her arm yet and wasn't going to until they had reached their destination. Alice had wondered why he wasn't willing to let her go, but she was slightly grateful for the contact. Not because his hand was warm and her arm was a little cold, but because she knew that if Mello was holding her then the spirits would be less willing to seek her out. Mello was an intimidating person so she knew nobody would try and say something to her with Mello around.

Crossing under the twisted metal gate, Alice allowed Mello to steer her down the brick path past the rows of graves. It was incredibly quiet inside of the cemetery. Not a soul in sight and that was meant literally too. There wasn't even a spirit walking about. Alice would have been concerned over the strange silence, but she knew it probably had to do with Mello. They were all most likely hiding, waiting for Mello leave. Alice was just relieved to know that they were alone.

"How much further?" She asked to break the silence. She was growing tired of being dragged around by the teenager. Mello only snorted in response.

"We're almost there."

Alice rolled her eyes. Walking up a small a hill, Alice continued to follow him as she scoped the landscape. Even though the church didn't look like it was being maintained properly, the cemetery was clean and cut. It seemed like not a piece of grass was out of place. Almost all the graves looked cleaned with flowers at each of their headstones. It was obvious that they were being taken care of quiet well. Maybe even the spirits there were all at peace. The place looked serene enough, so there could have been a possibility that there were no spirits there in the first place. With that hope in mind, Alice turned with Mello off the paved path and onto the grassing hill. Walking by a few graves Alice read some of the names on the head stones. They were all pretty common names like Louis or Paul. The dates on them varied from years but most of them were pretty old. Alice only continued to wonder why Mello was going to a grave site. Was it possibly somebody he knew? Could Mello have come to see an old friend or lover? Alice couldn't even imagine Mello with a lover. Looking to the back of his head, her eyebrows dropped with worry.

She noticed ahead of him was a small tree with a rope swing on it. Why the cemetery would allow a swing next to a grave was beyond her. But there it was swaying back and forth by the wind. Mello pulled her up to the grave and stopped. Alice took a second to try and look at Mello's face, but his hair was blocking his features. He was looking down at the grave intensely. Alice looked at the headstone as well. It was gray of course just like the others, but it was in the shape of a cross. Usually the headstones were round unless the occupant in the grave had a little more money to spend. Then the headstone could be made into whatever form they wanted. It was usually a cross for those who were religious. Taking a closer look, she read the name across the "T". It read, _Maria De Swan Manzana. _The name sounded Spanish, but Alice wasn't quite sure of its origin. Right underneath her name was a quote written with grace and charm.

"_Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined. Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all chains from every mind."_

_~William Blake_

Alice wasn't one for poetry, but she thought the quote was beautiful. If Maria wanted a quote about love on her headstone then she must have been a genuinely good person. And right underneath the quote was the time of her birth to the year she had past. Alice was quick to do the math and she was surprised to see that Maria had died young. She had passed away at the age of only twenty-four. It was about two years ago that she did pass, but that didn't make it any better. Wanting to say something to Mello, she tried to look over at him again. She had only noticed then that he was no longer holding onto her arm. Instead, he was moving closer to Maria's grave and stretching out his hand as if he was going to grab something. Alice looked to where he was reaching and right there in top of her headstone was a necklace. It wasn't just any necklace though. It was a rosary, with red and white beads and a cross made out of some sort of metal.

"A rosary?" Alice accidentally said out loud. Mello didn't even respond to her as he picked it up off the headstone. He put it around his neck as if it was his. Alice gave a small gasp. "I don't think you're allowed to take that!"

Mello turned to her without any concern. "It's mine." He flatly answered without any explanation.

"What?" Alice was taken aback. She looked to the grave for a split second and then back to Mello. "Well then who is she? Why is your necklace on her grave?"

Alice watched Mello stick the rosary under his jacket. "She's nobody. We need to get moving now." He turned away, avoiding her questions like always. Alice wasn't ready to just give up.

"She's obviously somebody important if you kept your necklace here. I didn't even know you were religious."

"I'm not." He gave her a hard glare as if she just insulted him. "Now we don't have much time, so let's get moving." He urged again. Alice felt her jaw tighten. Sooner or later she was going to get him to talk, but she could see that Mello didn't want to be there. He kept looking out were they had come from as if he knew somebody was after him. Knowing Mello, that wouldn't be all too surprising.

"Fine, but you owe me an explanation later!" She wagged her finger. Mello scoffed and started on his way back out of the cemetery. Alice took one last look at Maria's grave and then followed him close behind. Whatever Mello was hiding, Alice was going to be the one to find out his secret.

* * *

L placed his cell phone on his desk and let out a sigh. He didn't know why he was so exhausted, but for the past two days he felt like he was losing his touch. The cases were starting to take longer and no matter how many sugary treats he consumed, it was never enough to satisfy the empty feeling in his stomach. Watari had noticed his down fall as well. He was concerned that L was starting to take more time with his work. Usually he would have a quick answer and then follow up by retrieving the evidence. Then the case would be solved in no time flat. But the past two days have just been L looking for evidence. Watari only knew it was a matter of time until L cracked. And he knew exactly why L was going through such a rut. It was because of Alice.

L had already made up his mind about not telling Alice how he felt, so there really was no way for him to be around her. His heart would start to race and she would obviously distract him from his work. Working meant that he had to focus one-hundred percent. Alice would only get in the way. The proof was in France. She had caused him so much trouble that he was even surprised he finished the case.

But then again, she had helped him catch the killer. Even if her method was dangerous, she showed that she was brave enough to step in and help him. And she was even brave enough to take down a ship that L was ready to just leave alone. For whatever reason, L seemed to work more thoroughly when Alice was around. Watching over her meant he had to focus on the case even more. The cases he had been working on the past week haven't challenged him enough to keep him entertained. Ever since he finished the case in France it seemed like no other case was living up to the last. He was literally getting bored of his work, which for L was a big deal. If solving cases didn't excite him, then what was the point of being the greatest detective in the world?

"Watari," L decided to finally speak to his friend who was standing in the corner.

"Yes sir?"

"Do you happen to know where Alice is?" L asked, wondering why the house had been so quiet. L hadn't heard Alice all day. Usually she was outside on Sundays with the children. That was about the only time L could watch her. It was around that same time he grew more motivated to work. Just hearing her voice seemed to rebuild that spark of interest for his job.

"She is out with Mello." Watari provided him with an answer. It was an answer L did not want to hear. Something started to twist in his stomach and he certainly did not like the feeling.

"Why was I not told this sooner?" He gave Watari his full attention. The work in front of him was no longer important. Watari started to sweat a little. He wasn't expecting for L to take his remark so seriously.

"I'm sorry sir I didn't want to interrupt your work."

L relaxed his tense muscles. He caught himself before he made the situation any worse. He had no reason to be upset and yet there he was snapping at his friend. Shaking it off, he turned back to his work.

"No need to apologize, you are right Watari and I appreciate your help so far."

Watari relaxed after that remark. Next time he was going to have to choose his words more carefully. Alice was just a name he was going to have try and avoid for a while.

* * *

"I changed my mind, I want to know now."

"Will you just be quiet!"

"Who is Maria? Why was your necklace on her grave? Why are you even wearing it? I could never imagine you with a rosary!"

"I'm going to sew your mouth shut if you don't stop with the questions."

"Please, you don't know how to sew." Alice laughed, staying close behind Mello as he continued down the street. They were both still walking in the shadows of the buildings, but the area around them was becoming a lot livelier. It was only a matter of time until they reached the more populated areas of Winchester. Mello swiftly turned around and caused Alice to bump into him accidentally. Mello could only look at Alice with distaste. She had been on him about the grave ever since they had left the graveyard and he was clearly getting fed up with her asking the same questions over and over again.

"Listen you." He sneered down at her. Alice only raised an eyebrow at him. She wasn't scared of Mello one bit. In fact, she was enjoying every little break down he would have. It was his third time getting up in her face and it seemed like it was just getting more amusing to watch. "I don't want to hear another word come out of your mouth. Now mind your own business or else I'm going to leave you out here to sleep with the stray dogs."

"You think I'm afraid of being by myself out here at night? Please! I hitched a ride with a hobo and slept in a barn for three months!"

Mello started to rub his temples for some relief. His head was throbbing after hearing Alice's rebuttal. There really was no winning against Alice. The only other option Mello had was to distract her, and luckily it didn't take much for that to happen.

"Okay, I didn't want to tell you this, but we are being followed."

That shut Alice up in no time. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth went slightly ajar. That was the last thing she ever expected to hear.

"What?" She went into a whisper which gave Mello's headache some relief.

"Ever since we left the shop we've had somebody tracking us. That's why we need to get moving." Mello explained a little more, looking behind him once to make sure nobody else had heard him. Alice could feel her heart skip a beat. It was just the kind of excitement she needed. The motorcycle was fun at first, but there was nothing like a game of stalk or be stalked that seemed to excite her more. Usually it was her that was doing the stalking, but being stalked wasn't so bad either.

Mello noticed the smile that crept onto her face. Was she actually enjoying the idea of somebody following them? He was never going to understand Alice. She was forever a mystery to him.

"Let's go." He turned back around and started to move. Alice was more than happy to follow him. The thought of Maria's grave went straight into the back of her mind and she was fully focused on the stalker. She was even starting to shake a little she was just so energized. Just like Mello had been doing earlier, Alice found herself looking behind her more often to see if she could find anyone.

As they reached a narrow ally that lead to the high streets once more, Mello stopped at the opening.

"Are you sure somebody is following us?" Alice excitement started to die down. For the tenth time she had looked behind her and found nobody. She was starting to doubt Mello was telling the truth.

"Shhhh!" Mello was strict. Alice glared at him back. Mello signaled her to stay put and he slowly started to make his way down the alley. Alice didn't know what Mello was up to and she sure wasn't going to just stay put and let him have all the fun.

But before she could follow him, the sound of a phone started to ring, coming from Mello's pocket. Mello used some colorful words and ripped his phone from his pocket. Looking to the idée, he scrunched up his face as if the number had an awful smell. Flipping open his phone, he answered with an intense growl.

"_What_,"

He then stayed silent for a couple second. Alice noticed that his face started to relax a little more, but the fire in his eyes never seemed to go out. That's when Alice heard something behind her. It almost sounded like a tin can hitting the concrete. Alice should have known not to go looking for the noise, but the temptation was just too good. Walking a little ways from Mello to investigate, she checked around the back of the building.

Suddenly Alice felt herself being pulled back with a hand covering over her mouth. She tried to scream but her voice was muffled. Mello was nowhere to be found and she knew that it wasn't Mello behind her. The person who had a hold on her dragged her backwards and down a different ally then the one Mello had been in. Alice tried with all her might to struggle out of the guys grip. She figured it was male because of his musky scent. No woman would ever go without having some fragrance on them. The man's arm was around her torso pinning her arms to her sides. She was literally being dragged since she sure wasn't going to walk with him. Alice tried once more to scream out Mello's name, but there was no sign of Mello coming to rescue her. She was in trouble and there was no way she going to get away. Not without trying to fight harder at least. And that's exactly what Alice tried to do. She attempted going for the nuts by kicking her leg back. She missed completely. Cursing to herself, she tried again, but the guy jerked her back again, only this time she was thrown onto some sort of cushion. The next sound she heard was a car door being slammed shut.

She scrambled to sit up and felt her heart give out when she found herself inside of a nice tanned leather interior car. She was being abducted. At that moment she completely regretted ever liking the idea of having a stalker. She mentally slapped herself for heading towards the noise and she kicked herself even more when she discovered that she wasn't even trying to jump out the car door. Saying one of Mello's colorful words out loud, she reached for the handle and tried to open the door. Though tried would be an understatement. She pulled on that handle so hard she thought she was going to rip it off. It was no use. It was as if the door was sealed shut. When she heard the driver side door open, she readied herself for attack. If she couldn't escape, she was just going to have to fight. She had long nails and she knew how to bite. That would at least by her some time to break free. If not, she could at least do some damage before he killed her.

When she saw who entered the car, her whole exterior seemed to deflate. Ever muscle in her body just went limp.

"MATT?"

Matt quickly shut the door and ignited the engine. It roared to life loudly and he stepped on the gas as if his life depended on it. Alice was thrown back in her seat. She wasn't wearing a seat belt so she had almost felt herself being lifted up a little from the g-force. She screamed out in terror as Matt high tailed it off the high streets road and onto a stretch of highway that resembles the fields her and Mello saw earlier on their way towards the main part of Winchester.

"OH MY GOD! MATT WHAT IS GOING ON?" Alice tried to reach for her seat belt. Her hands were shaking so bad that she was having a hard time locating it.

"Hold on!" Were the only two words Matt said before he made his next turn. The car tires burned on the pavement, leaving dust and smoke behind. They screeched along the way, making Alice's screamed insignificant to the loud thunderous motor. She had been screaming so much that her voice was even starting to crack. Around the corner was just another long stretch of road, only this one went one way, which meant much less people to run into. That's certainly didn't make Alice feel any better.

"STOP THIS CAR NOW!" Alice cracked her voice again. The strain on her throat only intensified.

"No can do." Matt just smiled, pleased with himself and his ability to drive.

"MATT!"

"Calm down," Matt laughed again. But Alice couldn't. She had no idea what was going on and it didn't help that she still could not get a hold of that seat belt.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!"

"Alice, it's going to be ok-…" But before Matt could even finish that sentence, the sound of a gunshot nicked off of his car causing Alice once again to shriek in terror. Matt cursed loudly and looked in his review mirror. Just behind him was Mello on his bike with a handgun pointed directly at Matt's car. Alice looked back as well and felt the rest of her soul leave her body. There was Mello pointing a gun directly at them and he was actually shooting at the car! Alice only had a moment to feel grateful that Mello cared enough to try and get her back, but fear seemed to sink in more. That bullet could have easily hit her or Matt and it seemed Mello was going to risk that anyway. Cocking his gun again, he pulled the trigger and shot off another stray bullet that Matt had managed to avoid by swerving. Alice was pulled back into her seat by the force of the car's movements. She was hyperventilating at that point. She just couldn't get enough oxygen in her blood to keep her heart beating.

"Why is he shooting at us?" Alice asked a lot more calmly then she thought she could. She surprised herself by even talking. She thought she had lost her voice there for a moment.

"I didn't think he would pull out his gun so quickly." Matt spoke to himself mostly while looking in his mirror once in a while to keep an eye on Mr. trigger happy.

"Matt! He is shooting at us! Why is Mello shooting at us?"

Matt swerved to the left to avoid another one of Mello's bullets. Alice could see in the mirror that Mello was getting more frustrated.

"We are playing a little game."

"Little?" Alice squeaked over to Matt who still had a smile on his face. He was enjoying it a lot more than Alice was. "What could you be possibly playing that requires you to kidnap me and then shoot at each other?"

"Haven't you ever heard of cops and robbers?"

"Please tell me you are joking." Alice took a sharp intake of breathe.

"Mello back there is the cop. I'm the robber." He recited with joy. Alice had never known anybody to declare themselves a robber with such pride. Alice thought Matt was just a little too happy about the idea.

"This isn't cops and robbers!"

Another gunshot went off and the back of Matt's window shattered to oblivion, making glass shards cover his back seat. The sound was so piercing that for a moment all Alice could hear was the sprinkling of the glass hit his leather seats. Alice could only lean forward and cover the back of her head with her hands in hops that no glass or bullets would hit her. Matt cursed out loud like a sailor.

"Not my back window! It's brand new!"

"WE COULD HAVE JUST DIED! MELLO IS GOING TO KILL US!"

"He's not trying to kill us," Matt sighed, still bummed out by his broken window. Alice just stared back at Matt with an open mouth.

"Then what was that?" She pointed roughly to the broken window.

"That was just to scare me so I wouldn't notice him trying to shoot at my tires." Matt swerved a little more to avoid another shot. That's when Alice heard the bullets, but they weren't hitting the car. They were missing and hitting the road instead. Matt was right, Mello had been and was still trying to blow out his tire. Taking in more deep breaths, Alice tried to calm herself down so she could assess the situation. It was just a game between Matt and Mello. She just had to keep reminding herself that it was just a game and that she was safe. Well she would have to rethink the word safe. Safe probably wouldn't mean to be kidnapped or be shot at.

"Brace yourself!" Matt made his engine roar again. The engine was so loud that Alice wouldn't have been surprised if flames started shooting out of his exhaust. When Alice noticed the gravel road up ahead, she quickly grabbed hold of her seat and just gave up on the seat belt. She was going to have to rely on her own strength to keep herself in that seat. Matt started to laugh out loud when he reached the gravel. The car crunched and swerved with the loose gravel, kicking up so much dust that even Mello's silhouette was covered. Alice could no longer see in him the mirror and she knew that Mello wasn't going to be able to follow behind Matt with his motorcycle.

Matt had finally found his getaway and he intended to use it to its fullest. He drove the whole two miles until they came to a dead end. The gravel road just ended and just up ahead was a forest. The forest wasn't dense, but it wasn't clear fields either. It seemed to have just the right amount of foliage to make it seem dark and thick.

Matt stopped his car at the end of the gravel road and turned off the ignition. Everything thing went quiet. No sounds of gunfire or his motorcycle; just the sounds of nature from the cool breeze to the happy singing birds. Mello was nowhere to be seen. Matt had lost him just like he had planned. Hitting his steering wheel with one hand, Matt laughed and looked to Alice to see what she was thinking. Alice was glue to her chair. Her knuckles were white and her spine was so straight she even put a ruler to shame. She was breathing in and out through her mouth and her eyes looked like they wanted to break free from her skull.

"You okay?" Matt finally started to consider that it was a bad idea to grab Alice and run. Alice finally snapped out of her trance and gapped over at Matt.

"YOU'RE BOTH FUCKING _MAD_!"

"It's not over yet," Matt started to get more giddy. Alice was certainly not finding it as much fun as Matt was. She really did want to hit him on the head. Maybe that's what Mello had thought of her? She usually was the one with that kind of grin on her face. No wonder Mello was always trying to kill her. Next time she was going to be more sympathetic to Mello. Well at least until she was done killing him herself for putting her threw this game.

"What do you mean it's not over yet?"

"To win the game I have to get you to the safe house."

"I refuse to move another step." Alice crossed her arms.

"That's fine with me," Matt shrugged. He then reach under his chair and pulled out a plastic bottle. She couldn't see what was inside, but it was small and had something in it that sloshed around. Alice eyed the bottle suspiciously.

"What's that?"

"Chloroform. One whiff of this and you will be knocked out in no time."

"Matt!"

"Listen, if you're not going to follow me like a good girl, then I'm going to have to drag you there myself. Either way I'm winning this game."

Alice threw her hands up onto her face and moaned dramatically. Stomping her foot once like a child she gave in to Matt's demands.

"Fine!" She grunted.

"Good," Matt put away the drug. He then opened up his car door and stepped right out into the open. He was quick to get around his car and open Alice's door for her. Sighing loudly, she got out too. Now finally able to see what she had been driving in, Alice wasn't all that surprised to see the red. Matt liked his red and his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 look like it was made to be red. It was the essence of an American car. All it needed was white stripes and some blue with white stars.

"Nice car." She had to admit, feeling a little jealous.

"Yeah, except for the broken window in the back." Matt grumbled as he started to walk away. Alice had to quickly follow behind. She did not like the fact that they were already moving on so quickly. At least he could have given her a breather. And he only made it worse by pulling out a cigarette. Alice wanted to pull that cigarette out of his hand and stomp it on the ground, but she held herself back. She had saw him put the drug away earlier but that didn't mean he wasn't carry some with him right then. The last thing she wanted was to be drugged and then dragged through a forest.

"So where is the safe house?"

"A couple miles up north." Matt pointed straight ahead.

"Do you two play this game often?"

"About once a month I suppose," Matt exhaled a line of smoke.

"Once a month? Why? Why would you possibly risk your lives like this once a month just to play a silly game?"

"We like to think of it as training. If we can't outwit each other then what's the point of calling ourselves detectives."

"Detectives don't go around kidnapping woman and shooting at people's tires!"

"I would agree with you on the kidnapping part, but shooting somebody's tire out is kind of a norm."

Alice threw her arms up in defeat while rolling her eyes. She would never understand detectives; especially the ones raised in the Wammy house.

"At the end of this little game of yours I expect something in return."

"What do you want?"

Alice didn't expect Matt to give in so easily, so she took the time to think it over. That's when the thought of Maria's grave popped back into her head. After haven been kidnapped and shot at, Alice nearly forgotten the weird moment with the cemetery.

"I want answers."

"Ask away." Matt offered, knowing he did owe Alice after putting her through that car chase.

"Who's Maria?"

Matt was thrown off completely. He was not expecting a question like that from Alice. That only meant that Mello must have gone to get his rosary. Alice must of saw the grave and Matt knew Mello wasn't going to give her any explanation. That only made him second guess telling Alice as well.

"She was a nice girl." Matt kept it vague.

"But _who_ was she?" Alice asked again with more emphasis.

"It's been about two years I believe." Matt seemed to wonder off in his own thoughts. Alice walked beside him and waited for him to continue on. Once in a while she would have to watch her feet so she wouldn't trip, but otherwise they were both making good time through the forest.

"Did she use to live in the Wammy house with you all?"

Matt didn't answer her right away, but from his neutral expression Alice figure she hit the nail on the head.

"Yes she did, but she didn't stick around."

Alice was about to ask why, but the sound of somebody else's footsteps started to echo in the forest from behind them, and they were coming up fast. Matt heard them too and cursed. It was the third time that she had heard him curse in just one hour. She was pretty impressed. Usually it was Mello who would be the one with the sailor's mouth.

"Run!" Matt shouted. Alice took his advice and ran with Matt as fast as she could. She had no idea how Mello had caught up to them so quickly but she wasn't willing to stick around and ask. Alice was secretly rooting for Matt to win the game even though he was the robber. She also wanted more of her questions answered and Mello had interrupted her only chance to find out. So she wasn't about to let Mello win. Jumping over a small log, Alice powered through the maze of trees next to Matt. Matt had a little bit longer stride so he was slightly ahead of her, but she managed to stay with him the whole way.

As they made a turn, Alice found herself losing her balance. The loose patch of leaves caused her to fall right flat on her face. Matt stopped running and went to help her up.

"Hurry!" Matt started to panic as he lifted her up. Alice spit some dirt from her mouth and tried to wipe away the rest.

"Oh Alice, I hope you're okay." Alice said in a more deep tone to match Matt's. Matt didn't even care. He looked behind him and then decided Alice wasn't moving fast enough. So he grabbed her whole arm and started to drag her the rest of the way. Alice stumbled with him to try and keep her balance. The forest floor made that even more difficult.

"I'm tired of being dragged around by you people!"

"Deal with it." Matt simply said, trying to make them both go faster. That's when the sound of a gun went off, making Alice jump in her own skin. Next to her she heard Matt cry out in pain. Matt dropped to the ground, pulling Alice along with him. Alice inhaled a bit of dirt and started to cough. Matt tried to sit up and see the damage. Alice's heart was out of control. She didn't know what had happened, but it sounded as if Matt got hit by the bullet. Breathing heavily, she sat up as quickly as she could. The first thing she saw was red when she looked down at one of Matt's legs. She threw her hands to her mouth and gasped. It almost sounded like a whimper.

"MATT YOU'RE HIT!" She squeaked shakily. Matt went to touch his leg, but Alice immediately stopped his hand. "We need to get you to a hospital!"

"Calm down Alice," Matt didn't sound all that hurt anymore.

"CALM DOWN?"

Before she could stop him again, he ran his finger through the red liquid and brought it close to her face. She squirmed back and scrunched up her nose.

"It's paint."

Alice turned into stone. Her body went so rigid she could put a mountain to shame.

"What?" Her voice went back to normal.

"It was a paint ball. And it sure hurt like hell." Matt chuckled, looking back to his leg. The paint had covered his upper thigh and splattered some of his stomach.

"Nice try, but you can't run from me," Mello step out of the shadows and into the light. He had another handgun, but luckily this time he wasn't pointing it at them. It was facing the ground casually in his hand. He looked a little out of breath, but he had been running to catch up.

"Yes, well I can obviously steal from you," Matt smirked back. Mello made a sound that almost resembled a laugh, but Alice was still too petrified to really know.

"What does that make it now? 60 to 62?" Mello offered a hand to his friend. Matt took it graciously and was pulled up from the ground. Matt patted some of the dirt off him and laughed at his friends' remark.

"Yeah, you're still in the lead."

Alice kept her eyes glued to the boy in front of her. They were laughing and talking to each other as if everything that had gone on was normal. Just another kidnapping and car chase. No big deal.

Mello noticed Alice was being especially quiet. Rolling his eyes, he walked over to her and held out his hand. Alice stared at his hand and then looked a look at Mello in wonder. It was unlike Mello to be helpful.

"I'm not going to bite." Mello sneered, not making his argument any more convincing. Matt snorted in the background, thinking the exact same thing. Hesitating, Alice took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. She then found the strength to lift her hand up. When she was close enough to grab his hand, he quickly took hers in his and pulled her up roughly. She yelped as she tried to keep her balance.

"We should probably head back home." Matt informed the two of them as he looked to see where the sun was. It was almost starting to set which meant that it was getting late.

"I hate you both." Alice finally found enough energy to say something. She would have said more, but her body just didn't want to exert any more energy. It had all gone by so fast that he brain was still trying to comprehend it all.

"Give me my chocolate," Mello ignored her remark. Alice blinked a couple times at Mello, not really understanding what he was asking for. Mello didn't wait for her answer and grabbed the little plastic bag from her hand. Alice had almost forgotten that she had been holding it. That whole time she had the power to get back at Mello and eat it, and she didn't. Next time she was going to have to pay attention more. Not that she wanted a next time. She could have gone her whole life without doing any of that.

When Mello had his chocolate, he agreed with Matt that they should be heading out. Talking to him more privately, the boys routed out a map that would bring them back home faster. They estimated they had only a couple of hours until it got dark. Alice crossed her arms and looked away from the two boys, not even wanting to look at them. She wanted to yell at them both for having put her through hell, but she was just going to have to save it for when they got home. She also felt that yelling at them wasn't really going to help. She had owed Mello a favor and she assumed the favor wasn't just the chocolate. She was probably going to have to suck it up and let the boys get away with their little game. It was two against one, so there was no way she was going to win.

Sighing to herself, she started to try and get some of the dirt off her. It seemed that she had so much on her pants that it almost wasn't worth it to even try.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow move. Looking over to the bushes where she saw the shadow, she braced herself. She didn't want any more surprises. She was tired of being caught off guard and having unanswered questions. When she caught the culprit, she held her breath. She was hoping it was going to be a deer or some other forest animal, but that wasn't case. Just when she thought she was lucky not to see one in the cemetery, her luck ran out. Her once delightful vacation time was coming to an end. There just beyond the bushes stood a man with blood shot eyes and a frown so deep, his face almost looked melted. His hair was just as dark as the circles around his eyes and his body looked so thin and lanky. His red T-shirt was torn and his jeans were baggy and low.

And he was staring right at her.

Alice shivered at the man's intense stare. He looked so real and yet the two boys behind her had no idea he was even there. He was a ghost, and by the way he was looking at her, he obviously wanted to have a little chat.

* * *

Thank you wonderful readers and reviewers!

**VerityEldrich, Tailsdoll123, HybridRebellion, ****MikaUchiha666, ****Sexii-chan, ****monidex120, ****Frogata, ****YaoiLoverDeathNote1, ****MasterPrincess, ****Gir's-partner-in-crime, ****Saber Amane, and ****Blackenflames**. (Thank you so much for all your amazing reviews! It's you guys that really keep this story entertaining. I do it all just for you!)

**g-minor-art:** What anime are you referring to? And it's okay that you picture Alice with dark hair. You can picture her any way you wish. When I'm reading other stories, I do the same thing to and sometimes ignored what the author puts as the main characters description.

**tenshi-no-akuma-81:** Lol, thank you. And it's okay if your artwork will take a while. I don't mind the wait. You can take as long as you wish. I'm just still happy over the idea of you drawing them in the first place! I seriously can't stop smiling. It might be a problem actually...my face is starting to hurt...

**Stormygio:** I fixed the mistake as soon as I saw your post. Thank you so much for catching that! It's those little errors that I usually miss, so it's a big help to to know where I make them.

**alicelouise'x: **I inspired you? 0.o Goodness me! I'm so honored to have been an inspiration! I bet your Mello story is going to be amazing! Good luck and I hope you have fun with it! Thank you for the love! *Throws back some in return***  
**

**CaribbeanTrinidadian:** That cake sounds amazing. I must have it! And I bet Alice would like to wear all leather. Maybe some day she will raid Mello's closest. will see...*Smirks*

**Adorkable93:**I know, aren't I just the worst? teehee~ **:D**

**Avasaya:** Sorry about the wall, I can fix it, I promise. I'm going to need some glue and duck tape. I'm so happy that you love the characters. Thank you!

**Alice: **I could never forget about you! It would hard to anyway seeing as how I use your name all throughout the story o.0. I know I may sound stupid for asking, but when you say you were back in PA...what does PA mean? *fist pump* Yesh! I did Mello right! I do agree with you that Mello is like a black knight with an anger problem. Hes mean, but at least he understands respect. I also figured Mello would need to have a soft spot for somebody, thus I brought in Rebecca. I'm so glad it worked out well and that you love her. The Roger Idea would be a good start. I do need a good reason so I will defiantly consider using him as the main target. I looked up the game Cathrine. The story line sounds interesting but I just couldn't stop laughing at the guy walking around with just his boxers on and a pillow in his hand. Oh how the Japanese confuse me with their sex crazed sheep induced video games. I love the artwork though. Just incredible!**  
**

**Princess: **That is a great idea! I actually was going to include some form of an ex in Alice's life, but I will keep that in mind. Thank you so much your majesty!** xD  
**


	27. Doug the Ghost and a New Case

Howdy Y'all!

Welcome to Chapter 27 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

We finally get to see some ghost action!

Say hi to Doug everyone!

"Hi Doug!"

...

Oops, you scared him away...

Enjoy the Chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

**P.s:** Sorry if any of you got excited because you thought it was BB. _he he he...__I'm so bad_**  
**

* * *

**Doug the Ghost and a New Case**

"Hey guys, I have to go to use the toilet."

Both Matt and Mello gave Alice a skeptical look. It was the only excuse she could think of to get away from the two, and she was having some regrets using it.

"Can't you hold it until we get home?" Mello was straight forward as always.

"Not if you drive the same way you did before." She gave them both a hard glare. That shut the two up pretty quickly. Smirking at her own victory, she started to head towards the bushes where the man was still standing. He had finally looked away from her, but he looked like he was in deep though just waiting for her to come over. Alice liked it when ghosts were patient. They weren't always and usually she would have to ignore them if they tried talking to her with other people around.

"Don't wonder off too far." Matt called out to her. Alice just waved back to him to show him that she heard. As she got closer to the man, she could start to see his features better. For his age, Alice guessed he was probably in his early thirties or late twenty's. He had the makings of crow's feet around his eyes. And his eyes probably once were a beautiful shade of blue, but over the years it must have dulled down to a grey color. The redness in the veins around the pupils didn't help either. When she reached him, she walked right past him to find a place where the boys could no longer hear or see her. As she walked by she quietly whispered for him to follow her. The guy nodded and walked right behind her. She was pleased that he was obeying her so well. Not many of the dead ever liked to listen to her.

When they reach a part of the forest she was sure she would get enough privacy, she stopped and turned to face the man. She had to look up at him since he was exceedingly tall. Alice guessed he was probably between 185 to 190 centimeters tall (6'1 – 6'3).

"I need your help," He was the first to speak. His voice sounded horse and scratchy, but she was even more surprised how much of an American accent he had.

"Looks like you're beyond help my friend," Alice observed him as he scratched his arm. That was a clear sign that he used to be a drug user. If his blood shot eyes and horse voice didn't give that away, then his itchy arm and slight jittery twitch sure did.

"Not that kind of help." He started to get a little frustrated. Alice eased off the sarcasm a little to hear him out. The last thing she wanted to have was a drug addicted ghost haunting her. "I'm looking for someone."

"Dead or alive?"

"What?"

"The person you are looking for. Is he dead or alive?"

The drug user scratched his arm some more and looked to the forest floor. His frown only deepened. Alice was usually patient with the dead, but she only had so much time before Mello or Matt would get suspicious. She wanted to get straight to the point, but it didn't look like he was going to cooperate.

"I don't know…" He finally answered her, but way to slow for Alice.

"I can't help you if you don't know."

This brought back the attention of the drug user.

"Why not? Why does it matter if he's dead or alive?"

"I don't want to be led on a wild goose chase. You're going to have to find him on your own."

"Hey Ace? You done yet?" Mello's extremely irritated voice called out to her. At first she had wondered why Mello had referred to her as Ace, but she was quick to remember that she had to use her nickname outside of the Wammy House.

"Calm down, I'm coming!" Alice replied with the same inflection. She then brought her attention back to the dead drug user. "I got to go, good luck finding your friend." She waved.

"Wait!" The guy called out, but Alice was already on her way back towards the boys and she knew the ghost wasn't going to follow her. There was a good reason he was staying away in the first place and she didn't blame him. She was sure he had seen the car chase and the gun fire. If Alice could, she would have stayed away from them too. But they were her only ride back home.

Alice didn't hear another word from the drug user. As she got back to the clearing where Matt and Mello were standing, she felt a little guilty. She could have helped that guy. It wasn't often she would ignored someone who needed her help. But getting over the guilt quickly she smiled and waved over at the two boys who were watching her emerge from the bushes.

"You know, I never took you as somebody who would be brave enough to do your business in the open forest." Matt said as he watched Alice approach them.

"Well then you don't know me very well do you?" She played along, not in the least embarrassed. Alice never actually seemed to feel embarrassed about anything, except for the time L had seen her covered in cake batter. That was a moment she wished she could do over again.

"Can we just go?" Mello sounded defeated. Alice had noticed that he had already gone through his chocolate bar and was probably going through withdrawal. God forbid he'd go without a bite of chocolate for five minutes.

"I call Mello's bike!"

"You're riding with Matt!"

* * *

The Wammy house was full of life. The bright paint colors gave the house some character along with all the floral décor that made it look so inviting. The children played out in the back yard. Their laughter could be heard from a mile away. Nobody would ever believe the house was an orphanage. The house carried so much charm and joy. When Alice returned she made the house glow even more. She was the instigator to the houses uplifting mood. As soon as she stepped through that door she headed straight for the backyard to go and play with the children. Matt and Mello didn't even get a chance to say one word to her.

Mello grumbled something about how Alice's over hyper personality was going to be the death of her under his breath. Matt snorted at his friends' remark and shook his head. There were days where Matt truly appreciated Mello's overly confidant attitude. Before they could both head off to their rooms, Watari appeared in the entrance-way blocking them. Mello gave him a subtle glare but didn't think much about it. It had been a while since they both had seen Watari walking around the house. He usually only came out to check on the kids, and even then he had Roger do that most of the time.

"Mello, Matt." Watari began in his scratchy voice. He sounded tired. Matt figured he was up with L helping him with the case all through the nights. Mello grunted back to show that he was listening. "L will need to see you downstairs."

That changed the mood completely. Matt and Mello knew L didn't like disturbances while working, so if he was making time to want to have a chat with them, then it must be something important. Taking the situation more seriously they both nodded their heads and allowed Watari to lead the way. They both gave each other a look before they followed Watari.

Alice was oblivious to the little secret meeting in the basement. She ran outside and stumbled upon Tinker and Henchman working on their next project. Henchman spotted her first and smiled. Since he had been spending more time outside he's developed a lot more freckles on his face.

"_Mo Chara!" _His Irish accent caught Alice's attention.

"Alice!" Tinker noticed her next excitedly. Ever since she had wanted to use the cannon they made, Tinker has been working nonstop to build things just for Alice. He was proud of the fact that Alice needed his inventions, so he wanted to continue making her proud.

"Tinker, Henchman!" She laughed as she ran over to them both. They were crouched down in the shade of the house away from all the other children playing. It wasn't often she would find them inventing outside, so she figured it must be an invention that was either too dangerous to do inside the house or they just wanted fresh air. Alice couldn't image the second theory so she prepared herself for the worst. She quietly hoped there were going to be no explosions this time. She would hate to have to write another paper on proper behavior in that dungeon. She never really understood why the Wammy house had a dungeon in the first place...

"Come see _pet_," Henchman beamed, leaning back so Alice could see what they were hovering over. Tinker moved away as well and held out his hand to show her what he was working on. Alice's first glimpse of the object made her take in a deep breath. It was a simple bracelet decorated with charms that signified chess pieces. Alice had never seen anything so beautiful in her life, other than the diamond ring L had given to her. She couldn't tell the material it was made out of but it looked like silver. The white chess pieces she guessed were made out of white gold while the black ones had to be made out of some sort of black diamond. Alice would have never guessed the two boys could create such beautiful jewelry. But of course she had to be realistic. If she knew Tinker and Henchman, she knew that it was probably not some ordinary charm bracelet.

"It's beautiful," She still had to admit with a bit of emotion. She loved it no matter what. For all she knew it could cut off her wrist, she would still wear it.

"The materials were difficult to shape, but it's turning out better than I thought it would." Tinker raved.

"So I'm going to assume it's not a normal bracelet,"

"No way," Tinker laughed at the thought. "Inside each of the chess pieces are computerized chips the size of a pin head. On the bottom of each piece there is a button. Pressing one of these buttons will activate whatever the computer chips are programmed to wirelessly control."

Alice only understood half of what Tinker said. She always assumed Matt was the computer geek of the house, but Tinker seemed not too far behind.

"I'm sorry, could you translate that into English please?"

"Say for example I want to call somebody. I could simply route one of the chess pieces signals to a cell phone and use it call someone."

Alice looked at the bracelet once more to see if she could find anything out of place that would make it look like some super spy gadget. It looked so much like a normal charm bracelet. She could not believe that Tinker and Henchman came up with something so dynamic.

"That's amazing!"

"I know right!" They both got even more excited. They loved to see Alice's face when they showed her new inventions.

"We are making it for you." Tinker gave her the good news. Alice immediately put her hand to her heart.

"For me? Really?" She started to choke up. She would have no idea how to use it, but she was damn sure going to wear it. Jewelry was her second weakness after shoes.

"Here, try it on." Tinker handed her the bracelet. Alice felt her heart skip a beat. She sat down on the ground with them and carefully took the bracelet from Tinker. She wanted to be careful in case something broke. Wrapping it around her wrist, she hooked it on with one _click_ just like a professional. She's worn enough jewelry in her life to know how to put them on without much trouble. She could have done it with her eyes closed. Turning her wrist back and forth, she let the sun reflect off the silver. It sparkled as much as her eyes were sparkling. It fit her perfectly.

"I love it!"

The two boys smiled to each other. "Good _pet_ because it's almost ready. Come to Leader's room after dinner and we should have it done by then."

Alice gave Henchman an okay and unhooked the bracelet. She gave it back, but not without some hesitation. She wanted to wear it now, but she had to comply with the boys. She would rather have it finished and working properly then blow up in her face. Tinker has had a bad run on some of his inventions, but she knew he would never give her something he didn't think would work properly.

"See you after dinner then." She waved. She figured the two boys needed time to work and Alice didn't want to hold them back. The boys waved back as Alice made her way to the back door that opened to the kitchen. Some of the children spotted her and called out her name before she could make it inside.

"Hey Alice come play with us!" Linda used her cute girly voice. She was shy but her artwork was amazing. For only being eight years old, she could paint portraits more lifelike then a photograph.

"I will be there in a minute. I have to go change my clothes." She laughed in return. Linda seemed satisfied with that answer and Let Alice leave. Knowing she had to be quick, Alice raced inside and upstairs to get to her room. It was hot out and she had been wearing skinny jeans. Earlier that morning she had road on Mello's motorcycle, but the day was getting too hot and she wanted to change into shorts. Reaching her room, she quickly entered inside and closed the door behind her. Turning around she jumped and covered her mouth to muffle her small scream.

"I told you I need your help." The drug user was back, and he looked a little more angry then before.

"You followed me?" Alice hissed quietly. She couldn't believe that the ghost had followed her. But then again, she should have known better. She was the one to deny him help in the first place, so of course he was going to be persistent.

"I only need to find a friend of mine, and then I will leave you alone. I promise!" The guy started to plead. Alice felt the guilt once again and sighed. It wasn't like she could say no at that point. He was in her room and it didn't look like there was anything she could say to get him to leave. So with some reluctance she agreed to help the man.

"Fine, but under one condition,"

"Anything,"

"You are not allowed to talk to me if somebody else is around."

The guy nodded his head yes, eager to get on with finding his friend. Alice felt a little better after the agreement. She knew she would never be able to get away with talking to him around the kids in the Wammy House. They children would suspect something was wrong with her.

"So first of all, what's your name?" Alice asked to start. She sort of felt bad about referring to him as the drug user.

"Douglas Brown." He answered. His attention was starting to wonder off as he looked around Alice's room. Either he seemed to be just realizing he was no longer in the forest or the room actually was interesting to him. Alice's didn't care either way. She wanted to be rid of him as soon as possible.

"Mind If I call you Doug?"

"Not at all."

"Good, now who exactly are you looking for? And please tell me you have a name. It makes it a lot more difficult if you don't have a name."

"His name is Tyler Alchi, but he goes by Zeek." Doug was quick to answer. Alice pondered over the name a little to see if it sounded familiar. She came up with nothing which meant she was going to have to start from scratch. Zeek was an unusual nick name, so she figured it wouldn't take long to find him.

"Now you said before that you didn't know if he was dead or alive right?"

"Yeah,"

"Why do you assume he could be dead?"

Doug looked to the floor as if he was recalling some of his memories. Alice could see the pain in his eyes start to build up. At first she didn't think he was going to say anything more, but Doug was determined to find this friend of his.

"It was my fault." He kept his eyes on the wood floors.

Alice was about to ask him what he meant by that, but the sound of somebody knocking on her door stopped her. Both of them looked to her door and then to each other. She quickly pulled her finger up to her lips to show him he needed to be silent. Doug nodded his head and let Alice check to see who was knocking. When she opened the door, Watari was on the other side looming over her with what looked to her like tired eyes. She could only assume he had been working incredibly long hours with L.

"Watari?"

"Miss Alice, your presence is needed down in the basement."

Alice was completely caught off guard. She had thought L never wanted to see her again. He had done such a good job of avoiding her for the past week. What made him want to see her now? Frowning, she nodded her head slowly accepting Watari's orders. Watari gave her a warm smile in return to show her she was safe. Believing in Watari's smile, she followed him out of her room. Doug watched them go with a dishearten frown.

* * *

Watari allowed Alice to go first down the stairs. The last time she walked down those stairs she was carrying Matt on her shoulder. A smile crept up on her face after thinking back to Matt's reaction. When she reached the basement door she expected Watari to be right behind her, but when she turned around to look for him he was gone. Just like that. Poof, like a magician.

Alice started to perspire, worried that Watari was going to jump out and scare her. Her fear subsided though when she heard Mello's voice from behind the door.

"How long has this been going on?" He sounded calm. Alice held her breath in case her breathing would give her away. She wasn't expecting Mello to be there which meant that Matt was probably with him.

"For the past three years. It's fairly new." L answered Mello. It had been a while since Alice has actually heard L's voice. She was thankful that he sounded healthy. But she had no idea what they were talking about and it sounded serious.

"Three years? And they've already caused this much trouble?" Matt sounded astounded.

"With the amount of revenue they produce it should be no surprise how much influence they've had over the few years,"

Alice started to press her ear to the door to try and hear L better. His voice was starting to get quieter and she wanted to know every word he was saying. Just as her ear touched the door another surprise came from right next to her.

"Alice?" Near was standing only a few feet away curling his hair in the process. Alice's head slammed into the door as she jumped. Inside the room the other three boys went quiet.

"Sweet mother of Mary!" Alice held onto her heart while holding onto her throbbing head. She had hit it pretty hard.

Near didn't get to say anything more before the door was swung open. Mello was holding onto it and glaring as usual.

"Took you two long enough." He growled as always.

"What is this all about?" Alice asked as she tried rubbed the pain away. Mello just ignored her question and stepped away from the door. Apparently Near was walking in and Mello didn't want to get close to him. Alice let out an exasperated sigh and followed Near inside. Upon entering the room she notice L was facing away in his chair looking at his computer screen. Feeling slightly aggravated by this, she marched over to him. She was getting tired of him avoiding her. Leaning behind him over his shoulder, she got incredibly close to his ear to make sure that he heard her every word.

"Hey L," She started to say, but that seemed to be enough for L to make him shiver from the top of his spine to the tips of his toes.

He thought he had prepared himself for her arrival but clearly all the preparation was a waste. Her breath was warm and he was pretty sure that if he turned around he would be looking right into her eyes. Then it would just be the end for him. It was her eyes that were the most dangerous part. They were so clear and inviting that he could honestly get lost in them. He couldn't possibly loose his self control in front of his three top successors. It was truly going to be a test of adherence and mental strength. The only hope he had was the long hours of training he was put through to be able to withhold emotions under any stressful situation.

"Alice, please take a seat and I will explain why I have called you all here," He kept himself composed. He was quite impressed himself. It must have been his greatest moment of professionalism. If he could keep it up, then he was sure it would get easier over time.

Alice didn't want to just let him get away without asking her own questions about why he was avoiding her, but her curiosity about why he had asked her to come see him far outweighed her other question. So leaning away from him, she grunted once and walked back to meet with the boys. Matt was right between Near and Mello, standing the tallest. Mello was to his right looking just as pissed as the day she first met him. Near with on the left still curling that same piece of hair. She wondered if Near was responsible for why his whole head of hair was in curls. Moving to Nears left, she took the spot closest to the door, just in case.

"So I have already informed Matt and Mello here," L started out, turning his chair around so it was facing all of them. Alice tried to get him to look at her, but it seemed he was avoiding eye contact as well. He only looked to the three boys and skipped over Alice completely. Alice felt a vein pulse on her forehead.

"I'm going to assume it's a case you are willing to share with us. A mock test in which we will be able to perform together as a group and earn some experience on the field."

"Very good Near," L praised his most qualified successor. Alice made a questionable look. She opened her mouth to start and ask more questions, but Matt raised his hand up next.

"I'm more than willing to work with you on this case but I do have one concern…"

Mello butted in to finish Matt's question, only he used a lot more colorful words.

"Why the _hell_ is Miss blows-up-a-ship-in-a-pirate-costume here?"

Alice snorted at his feeble attempt to insult her. She looked amazing in the costume and he knew it.

"I understand your concern for Alice's last performance on the case but need I remind you that you were the one to lead her to the docks. In fact, you three were not supposed to even know we were in France. So I would count yourselves lucky I am even willing to let you work with me at all."

That got Mello to shut up right away. There was no arguing that logic.

"So what's this new case?" Alice changed the topic back. She was ultimately hoping L would look at her. But that did not happen. Instead L turned around back to his computer and brought up a screen that had a map of the United States.

"We leave for America tomorrow."

* * *

Thank you all for reading!

**Isshi Urahara, CaribbeanTrinidadian, Tailsdoll123, ****MikaUchiha666, ****Stormygio, ****VerityEldrich, ****Saber Amane, ****HybridRebellion, ****alicelouise'x, ****monidex120, ****and YaoiLoverDeathNote1! **(I feel like you all deserve a muffin. You get to choose, chocolate or blueberry?)

**Frogata:**They don't always steal people. Sometimes Matt just takes his chocolate. The fluff is the best part! So expect to see lots of fluff!

**Princess:** I've never been nominated for anything! Thank you! I really did like that idea, but I had to stay true to Alice's character. I'm sure there will be a time like that in the future. So don't feel sorry about your ideas because I absolutely love them. It's ideas like yours that inspire me with some of my chapters! Thank you so much! **xD**

**g-minor-art: **I think I might have seen that anime but I never finished it. You are not the only one working on Fan-art. I believe _Burry and Bunny_ is working on one right now. _tenshi-no-akuma-81 _is also doing one but hers is going to take a while since shes pretty busy. But I can't wait to see when they are done! I'm so excited! I still love your art by the way. You are the first one to ever make me Fan-art. Now I am a fan of yours. **:D  
**

**burry and bunny: **Alice is 20 years old. I will love your artwork no matter what she looks like. You could draw her with buck teeth and I will still give you unconditional love. Just the fact that you are even drawing her makes me so happy, so I can't wait to see it! **xD**

**OhMyGeePinkSucksAss:** I know! French! I can't believe it either! I wont ever be able to read it but the fact that's its going to be in French anyway is freaken awesome! eeee! (Okay, I need to calm down...) Thank you for the review!

**AraCookie:** I believe you will make the story even more epic then it apparently is. I know I've already said this a million times, but I can not wait to see it translated! I'm going to thank you again because you deserve every amount of gratitude I can give you. Thank you for your multilingual brain and for the short lesson on Belgium. **:D**

**Tsume Yuki:** _*Looks from side to side and then points to self*_ Me? You who has a story so brilliantly popular and amazing thinks my story is good? THANK YOU! I truly feel honored that you like my story. I know this may be late, but congratulations on your 300 reviews! Well, now your almost to 400 right? **xD**


	28. Gold Digger

Yo, wat up people?

How are my homies tonight?

Welcome to the 28th chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Fo shizzle!

...

I'm sorry, I'll stop now.

Enjoy that chapter

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or Kanye's song and ability to be gangster.)_**  
**

* * *

**Gold Digger **

Mello ran his hand threw his hair aggressively. He was sitting on Matt's bed waiting for Matt to finish packing his suitcase. They were leaving for America tomorrow and they only had one night to prepare. Matt wanted to bring a lot of his supplies with him, but he was going to have to send it up there in advance. So he was constantly making phone calls to a few of his friends. Mello had already finished packing. He kept his packing light, knowing that he was going to travel more. He knew he wasn't just going to stick around with everyone else. He had other methods of solving a case and he wasn't the type to just sit around and watch a screen like L or Near.

"Don't you find it kind of odd…" Matt turned to Mello after putting the last article of clothing in his bag.

"From the moment she came to the house," He answered him while crossing his arms.

"Why do you think L allowed her to accompany him to France?"

"She's obviously not intelligent."

"Are you sure? She could be an incredible actress?"

Mello thought back to her pirate costume and made a face. "Absolutely not." Matt nodded his head, thinking back to the same time. "What about the research you did on her? Did you find anything?"

Matt sat down on his chair in front of his desk and crossed one leg over the other, adjusting his goggles along the way.

"She not an orphan."

"Not an orphan?" Mello made yet another face. Matt started to get concerned that Mello's face was going to permanently stay that way if he kept doing it.

"She's from some rich high class political family."

"So why the hell is she living here?"

"From what I've gathered, technically she's still living at home. There has been no record of her running away."

* * *

"You're going to America?" Doug made a face, saying the line as if he had to convince himself. The face reminded her of Mello's.

"Yeah, we have to solve some case." She finished with her suitcase. She made sure not to pack everything she had just in case she lost her suitcase again. And by lost, she meant her suitcase being sent to Australia. She did make sure to pack the essentials though such as pants, shirts, socks, a wig, fake mustaches, a dirty romance novel with Fabio's picture on the front, some razors, and of course the all important panties and stiletto heals which go hand in hand; if she was going to be 10,000 meters up in the sky flying in a plane to America, she at least wanted to bring stuff to entertain her.

"Case? Are you some kind of detective?"

"Well no, but I help detectives." She crossed her arms and looked over to him.

"What's the case about?"

Alice sighed and placed her hands onto her hips. "I can't tell you, it's a secret."

"I'm dead! Who am I going to tell?" Doug made a convincing argument. Alice couldn't deny him that.

"Fine, the case back in America is about a large drug dealing business." She started to explain, thinking back to what L had told her.

_***Rewind***_

_Alice stayed seated in her chair next to Near while the other two boys continued to stand. L changed the screen once again to show them a building the size of a what she could get from the photo, the warehouse looked like some factory for shipping dairy and vegetable products such as milk, onions or cabbage._

"_Here is their main facility. The place has been monitored continuously for the past three months. There have been some undercover agents that have intercepted the area, so we do have that resource at our fingertips." _

"_How many undercover agents are there?" Matt leaned back and forth on his feet. _

"_Two for now, but they are working on a third"_

"_What about the individual smaller buildings around their main Facility?" Mello wondered next._

"_From what the agents have gathered, they are storage units, heavily guarded." _

"_Do you suppose that there could be another large warehouse they could use besides this one?" Near was next. L brought another map on his screen and pointed to a few points that were highlighted with red dots._

"_These would be the options for their drug dealing business in terms of a desirable work space." _

_Alice started to wonder off with her eyes toward the ceiling. She was getting bored and half of their conversation was going in one ear and leaving out the other. Inside her head she was singing to herself. Kanye West's and Jamie Foxx's " Gold digger" repeated continually for what seemed like forever. In her head she considered herself an excellent rapper. She wanted to sing it out loud to show off, but she figured they would just yell at her to be quiet. _

"_Alice,"_

_But then again, what good quality music did they know? She was probably far more aware about the music of the modern world. She knew who the hottest artists were and what songs were number one on the charts. _

"_Alice…"_

_She was probably the only one in the house who listened to rap or pop. It was just too bad that the children in the house couldn't experience something as magnificent as techno pop or hip hop. _

"_ALICE!" Mello's bark slapped her back into reality. She looked to Mello with wide fearful eyes, unsure of what was going on around her. "Pay attention you idiot!" Mello made himself loud and clear. _

"_Psh, I was paying attention." She crossed her arm defensively. She knew that was going to come back and kick her in the butt, but her pride was just too strong to control. _

"_What did L just say then?" Matt smirked. Alice's eyes started to dart back and forth to find an answer. _

"_He said…there is a bad man that is doing bad things…so we need to…catch…him…" Alice squinted while looking down at her lap. That was a stupid answer, but technically she wasn't going to be wrong. Alice heard L sigh. She looked up at him in hopes that he would look at her, but instead he was still looking to the computer screen._

"_Alice, please pay attention." Was the only response she received. Alice felt the heat in her cheeks flare from annoyance. She was literally seconds away from grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her. Luckily she had her rap to calm her down as L went on talking about the case. _

_***Back to Present***_

"_Now_ _I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, But she ain't messin' with no broke nig**a_." Alice rapped while moving one of her hands up and down like a gangster.

"Uh…." Doug was speechless as he watched her rap.

"_Get down girl go head get down_" She started to sway to her internal beat.

"Hey, uh, why are you rapping?" Doug stepped back towards her wall.

"I like to rap." She answered truthfully.

"But what about the case? Weren't you going to tell me what it's about? All you told me was that it involved some drug dealer in America?"

"_Get down girl go head get down" _She rapped the next line. "I wasn't paying attention, so I don't know the rest. _Get down girl go head get down._" She continued to move her hand up and down. She even started to shake her butt a little.

Doug groaned and slapped both hands onto his face and tried to knock his head back onto the wall behind him. Instead of feeling the wall like he thought he would, he fell right through and landed inside her bathroom, leaving Alice alone in her room rapping out the rest of her song while shaking her butt.

* * *

"Do you think L was the one to cover up her run away from home?" Mello paced back and forth. He never knew that Alice's life could be so complicated, but he and Matt were having a hard time trying to understand why she was living in the house in the first place. From what they have discovered about her, they found out she was average in high school and never continued on to college even though she had the money to do so. There was very limited information about her home life other then she was raised by hired help. Her parents traveled all the time, so of course they could see why there would be bad tension between the two. Alice was obviously not a perfect child in her grades or had any real talents other than her ability to get away with just about anything. So of course she would fight with her parents who probably expected her to be just as perfect as they were.

"I doubt it. Judging by how much influence her parents have in the political world, they probably covered it up themselves to keep up their good reputation."

Mello had to agree with that. After reading about her parents, Mello would have run away too.

"So why do think L took her with him to France? We've been trying to work with him for years and she just comes along and ends up going with him in just a month."

"Not to mention that he came to the house to meet her. The last time he came home was when we were too young to even walk." Matt pondered over the thought too.

"Man she pisses me off!" Mello started to get more aggravated. His pacing increased and he was started to flex his muscles in his neck from clenching his jaw. He just could not figure out why she was even living in the house and he wanted answers.

* * *

The sun was just hitting the horizon when Alice made her way to Tinkers room. She was going to go and see him like she had promised to collect her charm bracelet they had made for her. She remembered his room was next to Mello's, so she had to make sure to be cautious. If Mello was in there, she didn't want him to see her going into Tinkers room. She wanted to keep their meeting a secret. Knocking on the door lightly, she waited for a response. She grew a little worried when nothing was happening, but finally she heard the sound of the lock click open. Turning the knob, she slowly opened the door as quietly as she could. The door creaked a little, but otherwise she had no trouble moving inside without too much noise.

"There you are," Tinker spoke lightly with his legs crossed under him sitting on his bed. Alice finally got a better look at the little inventor's room as she shut the door behind her. The last time she had come in she forced Mello through the door and got egg on his face. So she didn't get to stay long. The first thing she noticed inside his room was the wall decoration just above his desk. Well it wasn't necessarily a decoration. More like a bored with a bunch of hooks on it. On each of the hooks hung some sort of tool. She recognized a wrench and a hammer, but most of the other tools looked like some sort of evil dentist tool used to drill into somebody's teeth. She shivered at the thought and moved on to the rest of the room. Beyond just the wall of tools, the room looked relatively normal. There was a bookshelf that had stacks of papers, probably his blueprints for some of his work. Then there was his bed he was sitting on that had a neutral bed spread of browns and greens. His closet looked like it was exploding with clothes. That only meant that Tinker didn't clean all too often.

"Where is Henchman?" Alice focused back on Tinker who was getting up from his bed.

"He'll be here soon." He answered while making his way over to his desk. Right on top of it was the bracelet Alice had seen earlier. It was just a beautiful as she remembered it with its alternating black and white chess piece charms. Tinker picked up the charm bracelet and held it out to Alice.

"So you finally finished it?" Alice smiled while taking it from his hand.

"It should work perfectly now."

The door behind Alice creaked open, and Henchman stepped into the room. Alice turned to watch the little Irish boy bounce over to the two of them.

"I see you've already given it to her." He spoke to Tinker first.

"So how does it work exactly?" Alice wondered while looking at the charms more closely. On the bottom of each chess piece she noticed a button. She tried to recall what they had told her before but she was having a hard time remembering the details.

"It's easy _pet. _Just press one of those buttons and it will operate whatever it's wirelessly connected to."

"So if I press this one…" She chose a white pawn. She pressed the bottom of the charm and felt the button push in. Just on the opposite side of the room Alice started to hear some beeping noise. All three of them looked over curiously at the wall that was producing the sound. Suddenly Tinkers face went pale.

"GET DOWN!" He screamed while grabbing Henchman's and Alice's hands. Just as he was trying to pull them down, the wall exploded with a spray of wood and fire. Smoke poured out in all directions and the echo from the explosion vibrated the walls like an earthquake. All of them were shaken to the floor, covering their heads with their arms to try and protect themselves. Alice didn't know if she screamed or not since the explosion had been so loud, but her throat sure hurt. Just when she thought she was going to be cleared of any explosions, the wall just had to ruin that theory. Alice should have known that something was going to explode, but she was hoping in the back of her mind that she could go one day without some fire breaking out. How does it always end up exploding with Alice around? She just couldn't shake the feeling that some sort of bad karma or ju-ju was following her around.

When the fire started to die down and the smoke cleared a little more, Alice slowly started to uncover herself to see what the damage was. Looking at the wall, she found herself looking right into Mello's room. The explosion left a huge gaping hole in the wall between Tinker's and Mello's room. Alice freaked out a little when she thought of Mello being in the room. But his room was dark and it looked like nobody had been in there when the explosion went off. That gave her some relief.

But even though everyone looked to be unharmed, all Alice could do at that moment was point to the large whole with her jaw almost touching the ground and squeak. She couldn't even talk. Just for that moment she forgot how to use her words, so all that came out of her open mouth were little high pitch squeaks.

"Ah oh…" Tinker saw the wall too. Alice looked to Tinker while still pointing to the hole and squeaked again. Luckily Tinker understood the language of squeaking and figured out Alice was asking why the wall blew up. At least that seemed to be the most sensible question to ask.

"That wasn't supposed to happen." He tried to save himself, although Alice thought it was a little to late for that, seeing as how the wall was still smoking. Ignoring more of Alice's squeaks, Tinker looked over to Henchman who was just noticing the hole as well. "What signal code did you rout the white pawn to?"

"The one you told me to, WT766." Henchman answered shakily.

"766? I didn't tell you 766! I said 745! The 766 was the explosive teddy bear!"

"Teddy bear?" Alice started to feel a bit dizzy. She looked back and forth between the two boys as they started to argue over the correct number. When her eyes began to cross she decided it would be best to try and focus on something. Looking back to the hole, she subtly heard hard footsteps from outside the room. She then heard the door in the other room swing open violently. The light came on and the room illuminated behind the dust and smoke. Alice watch as Mello slowly walked into his room and gap at the large hole in his wall. Matt was right behind looking just as shocked as his friend. At that point Tinker and Henchman had stopped their arguing to watch the two new set of eyes looking at their handiwork.

For a full minute everyone was quiet, letting Mello analyze the damage done by the explosive. Pieces of the wall would crumble down to the floor once in a while and the smoke from the disappearing fire reached the ceiling. The sound of the dust settling crackled to the wood floors, leaving a thin layer in both rooms. When he finally got around to looking at Alice, she was quick to hide her charm bracelet behind her back. Their eyes locked on to each other and it wasn't long until Mello's face turned a deep red. Alice could feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise.

* * *

L listened intently from his desk waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. After hearing and feeling the explosion, his brain was running a mile a minute trying to comprehend what had just happened. His strongest guess would be that it was one of the children's games or inventions. Judging by how loud and strong the explosion was, it was probably Tinkers.

Minutes went by and all seemed to be going back to the houses quiet state. At least until Alice's ear splitting scream came flooding though the house like a tidal wave. Just when he thought everything was going to be fine, Alice had to make a terrifying sound like that. L had never felt himself move so fast in his life. It only took him seconds to get up from his chair and make it to the door. He didn't know what was going on but he wasn't about to ignore a scream like that. But just when he was about to run out the door, Mello's angry roar stopped him.

"THERE IS A HOLE IN MY FUCKING WALL! STOP RUNNING AWAY SO I CAN KILL YOU!"

L felt his whole exterior deflate. After hearing Mello's angry yell he was relieved to know that it was just another one of Alice's destructive moments in which concluded with Mello trying to murder her. Even though her life was technically in danger, L felt it wasn't necessary to try and save her. He's experienced enough of those moments with both her and Mello and knew there was nothing he could do to get them to stop. He was just relieved to know that nothing truly dangerous was threatening her.

"MELLO NOOO!" Alice terrified scream echoed again. L could even hear the thumping of her feet and the loud crashes of objects and furniture being tossed around. It almost sounded like a hurricane was upstairs. Along with the sounds of crashes there was two other young boys screaming with Alice. L could only assume they belonged to Tinker and Henchman.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Alice only screamed in return. L could feel the vibrations from their running. He was in the basement, so it amazed him that he was even able to hear them so well.

Walking slowly back to his computer, L thought over his new found feelings for the newest member in the house. After hearing her scream and run he was starting to wonder why he even liked her in the first place. How could he rationalize falling for a woman who causes multiple explosions? A woman who shops as if it was an addiction, Flirts with serial killers, and wears pirate costumes to blow up a ship because it is "appropriate" for the scenario. How could he possibly have fallen for a girl like Alice?

"OH SHIT MELLO! LOOK OUT! SHE HAS A HAMMER!"

Oh yes, that's why.

She was incredibly resilient. L felt the corner of his lips arch upward.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**ravenandawritingdesk, HybridRebellion, Deathnote fan1, MikaUchiha666, XBloodMageRikaX, KITTY LOVS MATT, Saber Amane **(Good choice!)**, Bow Down To Gir , and freaksforever. **(YOU GUYS! Oh my Jesus you people make me happy. 300 reviews? 300 REVIEWS? Do I really have that many? THAT'S FREAKIN AWESOME! Now I feel bad that I offer you all these wonderful treats and yet they turn out to be empty promises. Next time I will try to offer something I know I will be able to fulfill. You have my word **=3**) _maybe..._**o.0  
**

**burry and bunny:** Blowing him up might be a little extreme, but then again, it is Alice. I'm thrilled to know that my my mystery writing skills are worthy enough for L. Oh and I will go all _shskfifurb_ when I see your artwork, because I will be so excited to see it that I might just have to go and find a trampoline to jump on just to contain my happiness.

**VerityEldrich: **Thank you so much! I'm touched that you think of me as a good writer. Of course my favorite character would have to be L, but Mello is a pretty close second. **  
**

** g-minor-art: **Oh I know what you mean. I wish I could draw on the computer too. In fact, I wish I had any artistic ability at all. But hey, at least I have _some_ ability to write I suppose. Instead of drawing a picture, I guess I could write a well thought out description of a picture with intricate details and colorful adjectives. And you are more then welcome to call them your characters. **:D** you worked hard on illustrating their appearance. And if you haven't asked your Irish principle yet, it's pronounced "Muh Karra". You'll just have to wait and see where they go to in America **=D**.

**MasterPrincess: **You are not only royalty, but you are a master of ideas as well. That is a splendid idea! I will see what I can do, but that could be a possibility for the case. Thank you very much!

**Foam Weber: **Homework sucks (That's from my OC Alice)**. **I accept your random challenges and have complete confidence in my ability to win! So what's next?**  
**

**CaribbeanTrinidadian:** Chocolate is just to amazing, so I'm with you on that. And you are just going to have to wait as see **=D**. I do promise more movie stuff though. Just waiting for the right moments.

**Frogata**: Oh, I think you will enjoy the plane ride, just wait **=D**.

**alicelouise'x: **You're complimenting yourself and my OC Alice because you both deserve it. I'm pretty sure the shoe thing is every girls weakness, even if they don't admit to it. I have noticed your hints and will take that into consideration. And by consideration, I do mean create the best moments of L and Alice together being sickeningly cute and funny. Is that okay?

**ItsMeNotYou: **Would it be weird if I found that image to be sexy?**  
**

** AraCookie: **Yes they have the same meaning. I'm so happy that you are my translator!


	29. L's Revelation Alice's Epic Quotations

Greetings follow persons who are on their computers.

You read the 29th Chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve,_ yes?

You enjoy, yes?

Yes **=)**

_(Disclaimer: No own Death Note, yes?)_

* * *

**L's Revelation; Alice's Kick Butt Quotations **

The night had been long and frightful. There was screaming, yelling, scratching, cursing, and all the other wonderful murderous intent in-between. But the fire had been controlled and the dust had been cleaned and cleared. Mello had eventually calmed down, but not without creating even a bigger mess then before. Instead of just cleaning up the hole in the wall, all of them had to pick up the objects that were used as projectiles. Luckily nothing broke except for the wall, but Roger sure wasn't happy. Alice had thought she had seen the worst of him when she set ablaze his roses, but the hole in the wall was a different story. After seeing that hole, Alice was placed on a list of shame along with Tinker and Henchman. The list of shame meant that for that the next month Miss Jane the housekeeper got to tell them what to do. It didn't matter what time of the day or how ridiculous the task, they were going to have to do it. The children could even be in class and Miss Jane had full authority to drag them out and make them scrub the toilets. Missing class for the kids was punishment enough, so the two boys were not excited about that.

Eventually Mello was added to the list too because of his temper tantrum. Alice felt better after hearing that, but she knew she was probably going to get the worst of the punishment. She and Miss Jane sort of had a love hate relationship. Miss Jane loved her because she helped her with her work, but she hated her because she created more work. So in truth it just balanced itself out.

When the children did finally finish cleaning up, Tinker still wasn't able to sleep in his room due to the fact that the explosive teddy bear had been on his bed, so he no longer had anything to sleep on. Instead, Tinker bunked with Henchman. Mello couldn't sleep in his room either because of all the dust that was still on the floors and in the air. He would have suffocated in his sleep, so he bunked with Matt. Alice didn't really like the idea of Mello being just next door to her room, but everyone had been so tired after cleaning the two rooms that they had all fallen asleep in an instant. Alice didn't have to worry about a thing since Mello was out like a light. Even Doug her ghost friend didn't stick around, so she had her room to herself.

But when the next morning came around, Doug returned waking Alice from her sleep.

"Hey girl," She heard a whisper right next to her ear. Alice turned onto her side and grunted angrily. The last thing she wanted to hear was Doug. In fact she didn't want to hear anyone. She wasn't a morning person.

"Heyyyyyyy" He tried again making the word drag on longer. Alice stuck her face into her pillow and grunted louder.

"Wake up, we need to talk." He got louder as well.

"Piss off!" She hissed in her pillow.

"Well that's not very nice."

Alice pulled her face out of her pillow and turned sharply to glare at him. The bags under her eyes clearly showed that she wanted more sleep. Even if the sun was coming in through the windows, that didn't mean it was time for her to be awake.

"You are so lucky you're dead or I would kill you myself."

"You said you would help me find my friend." He pushed on to what he really wanted to talk about. Alice whined while trying to sit up. She rubbed her eyes to try and get some life back into them. She had promised to help him and yet she ditched him the night before. It wasn't on purpose, but she had felt bad for leaving him like that. And he was even kind enough to let her sleep all through the night, so she figured she could at least hear out the rest of his story.

"Fine." She sighed while looking at the clock on her night stand. It was 6 o'clock in the morning. Her frown deepened. That was way too early for her. Nobody in their right mind would be up at six in the morning.

"Thank you." Doug smiled while taking a seat on her bed. It was actually the first time since she's met him that he's smiled. If Doug hadn't looked like he just inhaled 400 pounds of drugs and alcohol, he probably would have looked handsome in that sort of scruffy kind of way. He had a nice smile at least.

"So you said your friends name was Meek or something?"

"Zeek." He corrected her.

"Oh yeah, right. So what happened to your friend then?"

Doug looked to the floor just like he did last time when he was asked the question. Alice could see that he was recalling his memories from before and he didn't look like he was enjoying any of them.

"Zeek was innocent. I was the one to get involved with those people." She saw his jaw tighten. He looked like he was in pain, though Alice wasn't sure if ghost could even feel pain.

"With who?" She quieted her voice while adding more sympathy. She could tell that it was getting harder for him to talk about the event. Doug turned his head away from her and sighed.

"They were…"

_BAM! BAM! BAM!_

"ALICE GET UP, WE'RE LEAVING!" Mello interrupted Doug with his loud booming voice and banging on the door. Alice had jumped when she heard the door. She wasn't expecting Mello so early in the morning. Doug wasn't happy about the interruption either.

"SON OF A BITCH!" He slammed his hand down on the bed with rage. That's when Alice's door was stricken again with the sound of something hitting it as hard as they could, causing it to ring with vibrations. Alice jumped again, backing away from Doug knowing it was him who caused the door to make that sound.

"Shit," Alice heard Matt just outside of her room. It must have scared him too. Thinking quickly on her feet, Alice had to say something to make it look like she had hit the door.

"You bang on my door again and it will be more than just a shoe I throw!"

Alice didn't hear much of a reply from them, but she did hear Mello mumble some more colorful words. Hearing their footsteps fade away she sighed with relief while rubbing her forehead. She was glad that she was able to cover up the little mess.

Turning to face Doug she jumped again when she saw that he was no longer sitting on the bed next to her. She had wanted to try and explain that he had to be patient, but she got the feeling that Doug wasn't going to be patient for much longer. After hearing him literally attack her door, she only assumed that it was going to get worse. But it was too late now to try and get him to come back. She had to leave for America. Running her hand through her hair, she took in a deep breath to calm her beating heart.

* * *

Alice twisted her new charm bracelet around her wrist impatiently as she looked out the window of the black Bentley. She was finally heading to the airport. Rubbing her thumb over of the knight chess piece, she felt some anxiety overwhelm her. The night before when she had to help clean up the explosion mess, she didn't get the chance to talk about the bracelet with Tinker or Henchman. So she honestly had no idea what charm did what. She could have tried testing them out to see what could happen, but after having made a hole in Tinker's and Mello's wall, she decided it would be best to just wait and ask the boys later. She figured it would be wise not to cause anymore fires in the house. Roger deserved a break from the destruction and she honestly could not stand the thought of exploding any more teddy bears. Teddy bears were meant to be loved, not stuffed with bombs and then used to make giant holes in walls.

Taking in a deep breath she watched as cars zoomed by her. She had to try and focus her mind on something else. She didn't want to keep thinking about the charm bracelet or even Doug. After what happened to her door, she was afraid that he would start to do things much worse. But she had to shake that feeling away. She couldn't let anyone see her with a worried expression. She had to stay positive.

"Alice?" A clam voice called out to her from her left. Alice turned to Near who was sitting next to her in the Bentley. For some odd reason L thought there wasn't enough room for all of them to travel in one car, so he split everyone up into pairs. Matt and Mello were in the car just ahead of them and L was with Watari in the car leading the way. Alice and Near were in the last car trailing behind. Alice could easily see that L used this excuse to get away from her, and she did not like it one bit. Sure she was happy that she got to sit with Near, but she knew perfectly well that they did not need three cars to get them to the airport. It was a waste of gas and a waste of time. But most of all, it gave her all the more reason to attack him. She finally made up her mind to confront him on the matter. She was going to corner him on the plan and make him confess why he was mad at her. She wasn't actually sure if he was mad, but that was the only reason she could come up with as to why he was evading her.

"Alice?" Near tried her name again. Alice shook away her thought's and gave Near her full attention.

"Yes?"

"You didn't listen to a word I said, did you?"

Alice felt the sweat run down her forehead.

"I'm sorry," She laughed awkwardly. She needed to learn to control her wondering thoughts. She had already missed out on the essential details for the case. She couldn't afford to miss anything else.

"Is everything alright?" Near twisted his hair around his two fingers. Alice started to wonder if maybe Near had some sort of OCD. He always seemed to be twisting his hair.

"Everything is fine, why do you ask?"

"You seem more distracted then usual."

"You think I'm the one acting strange?" She was defensive after the thought of L avoiding her came to mind. "Why don't you try looking at _Mr. Keep away_."

"I'm assuming your referring to L." Near caught on fast. Alice gave him a bewildered look. For somebody who seemed to be the most socially awkward, he appeared to understand somebody's feelings quite well. Near always had a good sense to know when she was upset or angry. Even if she was putting up a front to cover up her emotions, Near would be able to figure her out. If she would have said something like that to L he would probably wonder who _Mr. Keep away_ was and way he had such an odd name. He would take it literally which would just frustrate Alice even more.

"Yeah…" She looked him up and down.

"I have noticed his odd behavior as well."

Alice looked around her as if she was trying to locate something, but in truth she was trying to comprehend how Near was able to pick up on L's behavior. The rest of the children in the house didn't seem to observe somebody's actions as well as Near did. Alice just could not believe how in tune Near was with everyone's emotions.

"How did you…?"

"From the moment he returned from France, L has been acting different; almost as if he's fighting some internal war."

"Internal war?" She snorting, not being able to picture L worried about anything.

"You don't have to agree with me. I do advise giving him the benefit of the doubt. I can tell you are angry with him and I don't see arguing with him will solve your problem."

"What are you, Yoda?"

"I'm not aware of whom that is…"

"Oh come on, Yoda?" She then changed her accent to match that of Yoda's in the movie _Star Wars_.

"_Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny._" She quoted perfectly. She was always good at remembering her most favorite films.

"Your grammar was atrocious." Was all Near had to say. Alice pursed her lips together angrily.

"Well so is your face." She sharply turned away from him and looked out the window. She would never accept anyone who insulted Yoda.

"I see your attempts to offend me are just as childish as ever."

"I don't want to hear that from somebody who is four years younger than me." She mumbled in return.

"I don't see how my age would make my rebuttal any worse."

"Whatever C-3PO," She rolled her eyes.

* * *

Getting onto the plane had been a nightmare. Of course they were using a commercial flight so they could blend in, but Alice didn't think they would board such a crowded plane. Just going through security was hell. Mello made it especially difficult when he fought with officers about the machines going off. He had made himself very clear that he was carrying nothing on him that was metal and claimed that their machine was malfunctioning. Alice expected L to intervene, but he was long gone, ditching them the moment they got into the airport. That only fueled the fire within her. She was even more determined than before to have a little chat with him. But letting it slide for the moment, she focused on getting to the plane on time. After what seemed like hours of interrogation from the officers, they were all free to catch their plane which was leaving in less than ten minutes. Near had already gone ahead twenty minutes earlier to save their seating so it was just Matt, Mello, and Alice who had to run.

"Couldn't you have just been a little nicer to them?" She huffed as she tried to keep up with them. They were both incredibly fast and agile, so they were finding it much easier to maneuver around the terminal.

"Why the hell should I be?" Mello argued just as out of breath as she was. Alice rolled her eyes at that answer. Matt smirked but kept his focus in front of him. He was keeping track of the time. Looking to his watch he discovered they only had seven more minutes.

"We're running out of time, hurry up." He stated while trying to pick up his speed. The other two did the same and rounded the corner with Matt past all the little souvenir shops and food vendors. Dodging a large Asian tourist group who took pictures of them as they went by, the three of them made it to the large section of gates that had the docks connected to the different flights. Finding the one they needed to board, they ran up to the woman who was collecting all the tickets. All three of them were completely out of breath by the time they got there. The woman with short light brown hair and too much makeup gave them a puzzled look. Holding out her ticket, Alice gave it to the woman behind the small podium.

"Here," She breathed heavily. The woman took her ticket cautiously.

"Enjoy your flight." She crookedly smiled while taking the rest of their tickets. When all three of them were able to board the plane, a sense of relief washed over them. Alice was first to look down the rows of seats to see if she could spot Near. It was economy class and it seemed like every seat was taken. There were families with screaming children, arguing couples, and senior citizens who for some reason were able to fall asleep through all the noise. Mello cringed at the site, not enjoying the fact that he would have to sit among these people. When Alice finally spotted Near five rows down, she quickly took off to claim her seat next to the window. She always liked looking out the window at the top of the clouds. When she reached Near she found him sitting with one leg up and the other dangling from his chair. He was twisting his hair as usually but he had his face press up again his leg as if he was hiding. He was sitting in the seat away from the window. Alice gladly took the window seat. Mello and Matt settled into the ones right across the isle from Near in the middle row. Unfortunately since Mello didn't want to be close to Near, he had to sit next to a little boy who look around the age of five. He was in shorts and a striped T-shirt with socks that went to his knees. His hair was neat and tidy, combed to part in one direction only. In his hand was a good size lollypop and he had a ring of sugar around his lips as if he had been sucking on the sucker for good period of time. Mello used all his will power to try and not look at the messy child, but the five year old made that incredibly difficult. As he enjoyed his lollypop he was staring down Mello as if he was he was an alien. Mello could feel the pulse start to beat faster in his forehead. All he could think about was shoving that lollypop down the kid's throat.

He absolutely hated flying coach. He had wanted to fly first class, but there had been no more room left. So he was stuck with his most hated enemy and the annoying girl. Matt was fine, but first class would have been better.

"Hey Mello." His friend whispered to him. Mello looked to his friend with no interest. When he noticed that Matt was pointing to Near, Mello became a little confused. That's when he saw something he never thought was possible. Alice was leaning down close to Near and stroking his head. Alice was comforting Near, which Mello could only assume was because of the plane ride. Near was actually uncomfortable on the plane. Mello was speechless. He never believed Near would show any kind of emotion or even had any for that matter. He always believed Near was a robot.

Alice ran her hand through Near's snow white hair. It felt soft and warm to the touch. She had always wanted to touch his hair. But now wasn't the time to appreciate his locks. Alice could see that Near was shaking and knew right off the bat that he was uncomfortable being on that plane. If there was one thing she did not expect from Near, she did not expect him to be afraid of riding on a plane.

"Near?" she whispered to him soothingly to try and calm his nerves. Ever since she had been messing with his hair he seemed to calm down considerably.

"I apologize." He started out, tilting his head towards Alice's direction. He was sure Mello had noticed and was enjoying every second of it.

Alice felt her heart melt. Nothing was more adorable then Near at that moment. She wanted to hold him in her arms and tell him everything was going to be alright, but she assumed that would only embarrass the albino even more. She restricted herself to only stroking his hair and grabbing hold of his hand that was twisting one of his curls.

"No need to apologize, we all are afraid of something." She smiled warmly. Near looked down at his hand that was being held. Her hand was comforting and warm just like her smile. It made it much easier to forget about being in that plane.

In the background Alice could hear Mello snickering. She looked past Near and gave Mello one of her most disgusted looks she could make. Her eyes pierced through him like daggers. Mello turned away from her glare quickly and stopped laughing. Even though he wasn't looking at her anymore, he could still feel the heat from her glare. A black aura festered around him as if it wanted to consume him. No matter how hilarious Mello found Near's condition, he made sure to keep quiet about it. He did not want to have to hear it from Alice later on. He always thought he had a scary face, but Alice seemed to prove him wrong with that. Even Matt looked away even though he wasn't doing anything.

When Alice felt Mello was done being an ass she looked back down at Near and smiled. That's when the sound of the plane started up. The engines roared to life with the sounds of the wind being cut by the blades. Near tensed in Alice grip.

"_Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Flight 4B7 with service from Winchester, England to Houston, Texas. We are currently third in line for take-off and are expected to be in the air in approximately seven minutes time. We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts at this time and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. We also ask that your seats and table trays are in the upright position for take-off. Please turn off all personal electronic devices, including laptops and cell phones. Smoking is prohibited for the duration of the flight. Thank you for choosing English Airlines. Enjoy your flight." _

Matt sighed at the thought of not being able to smoke. Alice started to rub her thumb over Near's palm. The plane was starting to move and she could tell that Near was getting worse. He was no longer looking at her and was back to stuffing his face into his leg. Alice echoed Matt's sigh.

The flight attendant did her little demonstration about using the seat belts and oxygen masks. And in no time flat the plane was picking up speed. Alice felt her stomach drop as the plane lifted off the ground. She press her head up against Near's and closed her eyes. That seemed to have calmed Near more since he stopped shaking. Alice smiled at her accomplishment. When the plane finally stopped ascending and came to a smooth level, Alice removed her forehead from Near. Near peeked from his hiding spot and gave Alice a gentle nod to thank her. Her cheeks lit up bright pink. She had to stop herself again from squeezing him with a hug. Even though Near was uncomfortable, she just adored him in that innocent state.

"Hey!" Mello's loud voice broke through the silence. A lot of the passengers looked over at the one who yelled including Alice. Alice snorted while covering her mouth after she saw why he had yelled. Mello was standing up from his seat and glaring down at the child who had been sitting next to him. Instead of eating his lollypop like he had before, his mouth was open in an "O" position while his eyes were as big as dinner plates. He was looking up at Mello in horror. His lollypop was stuck in Mello's hair, dangling back and forth close to his shoulder. Alice almost broke out laughing.

It was that reason why Mello had hated being around other people; especially children. Not only were they annoying, but they were incredibly irresponsible and messy. He just _had_ to sit next to the child with the messy habit. As much as he wanted to yell at the kid, he knew he had to hold his tongue. He didn't want to make a scene on the plane. Growling under his breath, he turned sharply away from the frightened child's face. He could see that the child was going to pee his pants and the rest of the passengers were eying Mello as if he was the bad guy. Grunting loudly, he scooted past Matt and headed straight for the bathroom to try and remove the sucker.

Alice continued to cover her smile with her hand so Mello wouldn't notice. She didn't want to make him anymore angry then he already was. Near had enjoyed the little drama as well. He wasn't somebody who believed much in Karma but he would be lying if he didn't say Mello had it coming. Matt was the only one who stayed neutral through the whole ordeal. There was something else on his mind that was bothering him.

"Hey Alice," Matt got a hold of her attention. "Where's Ryuzaki?"

Alice went dead quiet. She recognized the name as the one L had picked out to use as his knew alias. Her smile faded immediately. She scoped around her surroundings and finally realized that L was nowhere to be found.

"What the?" She leaned away from Near.

"He's in first class," Near answered them quietly, losing the pleasure of Mello's embarrassment and reverting back to his fearful state.

"First class?" Alice got loud, causing the passengers who had watched Mello earlier, look at her instead. Alice stood up from her seat not caring if she was causing a scene. Knowing that L was in first class still avoiding her was the straw that broke the camel's back. She was going to find him and force him to look at her whether he liked it or not. Near curled into himself a little more when his comfort from before was no longer holding his hand. Alice was already making her way past Near with fire in her eyes. She did not forget about Near though and grabbed hold of Matt's shirt to pull him up forcefully from his own chair.

"Alice? What are you doing?" Matt was frazzled as he was pulled and then pushed into Alice's old seat. He landed uncomfortably on his butt as his hands tried to grab hold of the wall behind him. Leaning more forward she grabbed hold of one of his hands as he tried to steady himself. Matt gasp sharply as his hand was forced onto Near's head. He gave Alice a bewildered look as she let go of his hand.

"Watch him." Was the only demand she gave him before she walked away. Matt tried to call out to her to come back but it was too late. She was already on her way to first class. Matt sighed heavily and looked back to his hand that was still on Nears head. It was then that he finally noticed Near shacking a little. Some guilt stabbed at his heart and he made himself more comfortable while still keeping his hand on Near's head.

"There there," He tried to comfort him while patting his head. He didn't think he would be much help but surprisingly Near stopped shaking. Matt felt a sense of accomplishment after knowing he actually helped sooth Near. He would also never look at Near the same way. Matt always believed Near didn't have any emotions, so this fear had made Near more human. Leaning back in his new seat, Matt prepared himself for the long plane ride. Spotting a book in the seat pouch in front of him, he grabbed it with his hand that he wasn't using to pet Near. Turning it over to look at the cover he discovered a very chiseled man with longish brown hair. In his arms was a woman in a long dress with a busty chest. Her corset made it look like her boobs were going to pop out any second. The title of the book read _Forbidden Love. _Turning to the first page, Matt decided he might as well read it. He had nothing else to do and he was curious as to what Alice had been reading.

Alice made it out of coach seating as she passed the bathroom. When she had walked by she had heard Mello inside cursing like a sailor. She would have laughed at his frustration some more, but she was on a mission. She needed to find L. Lugging past some of the first class passengers in their fancy pleather chairs, she notice a familiar head of messy black hair. Sucking in her breath she marched forward until she was just behind his seat. She knew it was him because of the smell of cake. The other passengers had been ignoring her the whole time. There were too busy admiring themselves and their large sums of money to care why she was there. At least that's what all the rich people she knew did. There could have been some exceptions. But forgetting about the people around her, she mentally pumped herself up for the battle and then stepped in front of L.

L froze when he saw Alice come out of nowhere. He immediately deviated his eyesight to the chair next to him which should have had Watari, but just moments ago Watari left to take care of a phone call. There was nobody there to help him. He swallowed the dry air painfully as if it was sand sliding down his throat. There was nowhere to hide. Not even his squatting position was going to make him small enough.

"Hey Ryuzaki, mind if we have a little chat?" She used his new fake name. L had told everyone before they left that they had to refer to him as such.

L started to sweat. He could already start to feel his heart pounding in his chest. Did she always sound like an angel?

"Ryuzaki?" Her tone got more sharp.

"Yes Ace?" L kept his cool even though his body language clearly showed discomfort. He still hadn't even turned to look at her. Alice felt her face heat up and a vain pulse on her forehead. Without even giving him a warning, she propelled herself forward and grabbed hold of his face with both her hands. L flinched away but he couldn't get out of her grip. She turned his head to face her with force. She was only a few inches away looking at him angrily. L felt the blood from his face drain away. He didn't like to see her mad, but there she was giving him the most severe glare he had ever gotten from her. It was truly heartbreaking.

"Why are you avoiding me?" She was harsh with her words. L was speechless. As much as he wanted to say something, he had no answer for her. Instead, his head was concentrating on the touch of her soft hands on his cheeks, the smell of her orange zest breath, and the site of her clear beautiful golden eyes that look as bright as her glowing radiant skin. Instead of having his heart stop and his skin run in hives like he thought would happen after she touch him, his felt a sense of peace wash over him instead. He wasn't expecting her touch to feel as nice as it did.

After feeling her touch, L had realized he had been going about it all wrong. He thought that if he avoided her then he could make the feelings subside long enough to get back to work, but in the end it had only caused him to suffer even more. His work had progressed slower and he found it harder to concentrate the more he was away from her. But it was her gentle yet firm hands on his cheeks that brought him back to life. Avoiding her was wrong. He now realized that it was pointless to try and avoid feeling the way he did about her.

"Ryuzaki!" She got louder and a lot more angry. With his head finally clear and his heart more at peace, L felt his confidence return to him. Her touch brought back his sense of logic and he was more than ready to try and fix his newly broken relationship with her. But just as he was about to answer her, the plane started to shake violently. They were going through turbulence and she had to grab onto to something other than L to steady herself. But her hand unfortunately grabbed hold of the arm rest with all the knobs and buttons. She accidentally pressed down on the switch that moved the seat up and down. So down Alice went on top of L as the turbulence shook their seat back into a sleeping position. Luckily it was first class so they had enough room to land lying all the way down without disturbing the people behind them. But that didn't make the fall any less awkward. Alice didn't have anywhere else to land but on top of L. She literally crushed him under her weight. When the turbulence was over, Alice just laid there on top of L with her face pushed up against the headrest next to L's. Her legs straddled his and both her hands were on either side of him trying to push up so she wasn't overwhelming him.

L didn't move an inch. He had thought her hands on his face was pleasing, but her on top of him was a level beyond that. He didn't know if his face was red, but he wouldn't be surprised to find himself blushing. He could feel every part of her; the soft skin of her cheek touching his ear, her almost white hair falling around him like a cloud of silky protection, the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Even her heart beat as it thumped loudly against his own. His heart was back to beating like a humming bird which worried him that she would notice. His hands started to shake and he knew he needed to control himself before something bad would happen. His biggest fight with himself was trying not to touch her. If he wanted he could have wrapped his arms around her, but he held back that urge and tried to clear his head again.

Alice felt incredibly bad for falling on him. She shot up using her arms to push. She didn't know if she had caused L any pain and she wanted to make sure he was okay. When she looked into his eyes after propelling herself up with her arms she noticed his face was neutral. He was finally looking at her without her forcing him to, and he looked as if nothing had been wrong. He was back to his normal monotone look as if everything around him was boring. She was surprised to see him so calm after she had just crushed him.

"I'm sorry," She stumbled as she tried to get up off him. Alice was even more surprised next when she felt L grab hold of her shoulders and help her up off him. But instead of standing back up like she thought he would make her do, he kept his hold on her shoulders and scooted back so she had room on the chair for her to sit in front of him. Having the chair leaning back gave the two plenty of room for both to be on the seat together. Alice gave L a puzzled expression as he got back into his more comfortable position of squatting.

"I should be the one to apologize." He finally spoke. Alice's expression didn't changed. "You have every right to be upset with my past behavior. I have been incredibly discourteous to you. I regretfully admit that I have been avoiding confrontation with you for the past week and do not expect you to forgive me if I apologies."

Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing. She expected more of a fight from him, especially after what had just happened. But all of a sudden he just does a 180 and reverts back to the old L Alice knew to be genuine and kind. She was overjoyed to know that he was back to being his old self, but she couldn't help wonder why he had gone through such a dramatic change just in that one week.

"Why were you avoiding me?" She just had to know. "Were you mad at me? If you want me to apologize for the whole ship thing then I would be more than happy to again."

"No, no. The past is the past and I do not require anything more from you." He answered her quickly. "I could never be angry with you…" His voice got quieter. His hands on her shoulders gripped her skin a little tighter, almost as if he was afraid that if he didn't hold onto her, he would lose her.

"Then why?"

L looked down for just a moment to take in a deep breath. "I suppose I have been struggling a bit with my work and took out this anger on you. Again I am sorry for making you feel upset." He somewhat lied to cover up his true hidden feelings. Alice frowned at this answer. L grew worried that she might have not believed him.

"If you've been having a hard time with your work then you should just take a break!" She grabbed both his hands that were on her shoulders. She then pulled them off her and pushed them back to L. L was a little taken aback by her sudden outburst. "You're going to work yourself to death!" She continued her angry rant after she released his hands back to him. "If you ever avoid me like that again then don't expect me to forgive you so easily. You had me worried sick!" She wagged her finger in front of his face.

"Yes. I'm truly sorry."

"No more apologies R2-D2, just tell me you won't ever do something like that again and we can go back to being the best of friends." She put on her serious face.

"R2-D2?" L tried out the name. "I'm not quite sure why you are referring to me as a mechanical robot from a late 1970's film but I do promise you that from this day on I will never treat you the way I did ever again."

"Thank you," Alice nodded once, satisfied with how things had turned out. "And sorry about the Star Wars reference. Once you start throwing out the characters names, it starts to become a theme for the rest of the day."

"I'm still unsure of what you are implying, but I suppose I should just leave it as it is."

Alice's smile returned which brought L untold happiness. If there was one special moment in life he would never get tired of, it was Alice's smile. It didn't take him long to smile along with her.

"Ace?" Watari stepped in front of the two slowly. Both of them looked to Watari with a bit of alarm. Watari had a mirrored expression.

"Did your phone call go well?" L asked first to see if he could deviate the awkward tension.

"Yes, it was successful…" Watari was hesitant to answer. "But why is…" He started to ask next, but Alice decided to answer him before he could even finish.

"We came to a compromise."

"Compromise?"

"That's right. Ryuzaki here has apologized to me and now we are best friends again." She made the conversation sound as if it went fast and easy.

"That's wonderful." Watari smiled with a sigh of relief. He was more than happy to see that L and Alice were back together. He had been noticing L's downfall ever since he had been avoiding her, and he felt it was best for L to have Alice around.

"Yes, I agree." L looked to Alice. Watari notice the affection in his expression right away.

Alice covered her mouth with both her hands and made a crackling noise before she spoke, almost as if she were speaking through some devise. "_The force is strong with this one_." She used a deep voice as she quoted Darth Vader. Her eyes showed that she was amused with herself.

* * *

Mello stepped out of the small compartment they constituted as a bathroom. He had finally gotten the sucker out of his hair after what seemed like hours. As much as he wanted to go back and tell the little kid off, he knew he had to stay calm. The last thing he wanted was to draw any more attention to himself. Exhaling angrily, he walked back to his seat with a stoic expression. When he reached his own section he had to stop. What he saw next threw him through a loop so long and curved that he thought he would be thrown to the ground just by the insanity of it all. Matt was sitting next to Near with one hand on top of his head and the other one with an open book in his hand. He couldn't see the cover on the book, but he did get a glimpse of the color pink.

"Matt, what the hell?" he almost passed out while saying. He had to grab hold of the seat next to him to keep himself steady. Matt turned to Mello not at all looking embarrassed or surprised. Instead he held up the book he was reading and smirked.

"I just got to the hot steamy kissing scene." He said proudly.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

******Bow Down To Gir**, **MikaUchiha666**, **Neon Knightly, freaksforever, VerityEldrich, KITTY LOVES L, and XBloodMageRikaX. **(You guys make me giggle, it's obnoxious. I can't even go two seconds without smiling after I read your reviews. I swear my face is going to freeze that way and I'm going to be mistaken for the Joker. You're lucky I love you all.) Teehee~** xD  
**

**CaribbeanTrinidadian:** I can't give away anything, but she does have plenty more friend's. And she will make many more as well. **=)**

**alicelouise'x:**Yay, love for Tinker and Henchman! I would be more than happy to read your story after you post it! I'm truly honored that you would ask me to critique your story. The little teaser you showed me was written really well. I'm interested now in how you will develop the story. And of course I love Mello, so that's just going to make your story all the better. Good luck and may the force be with you! **=D  
**

**Princess:** I must say your Majesty, you predict outcomes quite well. My hat goes off to you. *bows*

**Foam Weber: **I have failed! You have found the first word that I just could not for the life of me find a use for in this chapter. But that doesn't mean I'm still not going to use it. You have built a fire inside of me my friend, and it's not going to die down until I found a use for the word _Southpaw_! I used heartbreaking pretty easily though. **=D**

**Frogata:** I love it. I feel that it should be the theme song. I LOVE using the hammer on smash brothers! I love to hear everyone around me go "ahhhrrgg!" whenever I pick it up.**  
**

**MoonVX: **Eat too many cookies and then go into a sugar high. The withdrawal is awful afterwards, but it's worth it. **  
**

** g-minor-art: **"Doing the Matt" should be a new catch phrase. I'm sure eventually it will be used in a dirty way, but that's what makes it even more fun. And I love using the hammer on Smash Brothers! The music makes beating up my opponents more enjoyable. **=D  
**

**Mellofooshoo:** I do LOVE Mello. I will defiantly consider making a fic about him with an OC. I would really like to finish this one first though. I'm not really good at doing two projects at once. At least not yet.

** Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** The apple would go on top of somebodies head? Maybe?**  
**


	30. Road Trip!

Howdy my wonderful readers!

Whether you are reading off the computer, phone, or any other electronic, I am just happy to see you are reading it!

Please enjoy chapter 30 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Can you believe it? 30!

I feel like king! A thirty year old king...

...

Wait, what?

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_**  
**

* * *

**Road Trip! **

Alice staggered around crowds of people with her suitcase dragging behind her. She was so close to the exit and yet it seemed so far away. The glowing bright red sign that said "Exit" was a beacon calling out to her. The Houston Airport was packed with people. She had long lost the boys after she had gotten off the plane. They were separated by the crowds of people. So the only sensible thing Alice could think of was to just get out of the airport. She figured the boys would do the same since they all necessarily didn't like large crowds.

As Alice pushed her way through a pack of young teenage students all dressed in uniforms, she found herself only a few feet away from the exit. Alice breathed a heavy sigh of relief when her hand touched the cold metal bar on the glass door. She made her way outside without even looking back. The fresh air was her first sign that she knew everything was going to be alright. As long as she could breathe again, then she would have no trouble finding the boys.

Making her way down the sidewalk, she took her time to observe her surroundings. She had been to America before, but it was her first time in the city of Houston. Of course since it was in the middle of August, Houston just had to be extremely hot. Looking over at a thermometer on the side of the building, she saw that it was 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit). Alice pushed her bangs back and tried to wipe some of the sweat away.

"This heat is stupid," She grumbled at the weather. When she reached the parking lot she frowned. Everyone looked as if they all had a place to go. Families packed their cars, couples laughed as they held onto their luggage as they entered the airport, business men and woman talked on their cell phones. Everyone was busy going somewhere or doing something. And here Alice was walking around like a fool, sweating from intense heat. She didn't see any of the boys anywhere and she was starting to rethink her theory of them being outside. She even had the idea of them leaving without her. Panic set in when her thoughts started to wonder even further. What if they did leave her? What if they had been planning to ditch her in America and now they were on a plane back to England? What if they wanted to get rid of her?

Oh god.

She had forgotten to pack her wonder bra! How could she forget her most essential weapon? How else was she going to interrogate someone without her breasts looking large and perky? They were never going to confess! But then again, her bra wouldn't matter all too much if L and the others had ditched her. She would have nobody to interrogate because there would be no case. Alice breathed in and out to try and calm her rapid heart. She needed to stop worrying and try to actually look for them. They would have never gone to so much trouble just to get rid of her anyway. Right?

"Ace."

"EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!" Alice shrieked.

"Bloody hell!" Mello's rubbed his ears to try and get rid of the pain.

"Oh geez," Alice exhaled loudly while holding her heart. "You scared me."

"No shit!"

"Mello, please stop scaring Ace and help her with her luggage. We have a long drive ahead of us." L stepped in with a large SUV behind him. Of course it was in black. Watari was shoving some of their luggage in the trunk while Matt's head stuck out the window of the back seat. He waved at Alice once with his cigarette pressed between his lips. Inside the car next to Matt, Alice could see a messy head of white hair. She sighed angrily. If she would have just looked behind her she would have noticed that they were all there getting the car ready. Not only did she feel stupid, but she also felt frustrated. Frustrated with herself for letting her thoughts wonder over such ridiculous presumptions. She was going to do fine without her wonder bra.

* * *

Alice was of course in the very back of the SUV. It was incredibly large inside which was not all that uncommon for American cars. Since the SUV could seat eight people, Alice was assigned the furthest seat in the back. She wasn't sure why she was sent back there, but she had a hunch it was because they were afraid she would distract Watari as he drove. Well they certainly assumed wrong because Alice would never do such a thing. Just because she occasionally danced around to her iPod and kicked the seat in front her, didn't mean she would have caused the car to spin out of control and crash. They should blame her music for that. If it wasn't so damn catchy, then she wouldn't be dancing in the first place.

But as weird as her assigned seat sounded, something else turned out to be a whole lot weirder. Instead of Near sitting next to her like she thought would happen, L was there instead. It turned out Near got the front passenger seat. Alice glanced over at L who was surprisingly sitting in his normal crouching position. She didn't think that was in any way safe, but it wasn't as if she could stop him. He was only truly comfortable if he was sitting like he was. Tapping her finger to the beat of her music, she eyed L more closely. He was reading through some papers, his eyes darting back and forth on the pages. It looked like he was only scanning over the words, but Alice knew that he was actually reading every word there. She had always been amazed by how fast he could translate all the information. She then gazed over his facial features. His black hair was as messy as ever and his skin was just as pale, but there seemed to be something different about him. Almost as if he felt content. Instead of his hard serious facade, he sported a more subtle stare and a soft lip. He seemed like he found peace.

Alice wasn't sure if that new found peace was from the talk they had earlier on the plane, but she smiled a little anyway, pleased at the thought. L caught Alice watching him with that smile. His heart skipped a beat, but he composed himself.

"Yes Ace?" He tried not to smile with her. Alice frowned and blinked surprise. She turned her head away quickly to look out the window as if she had never been looking at him in the first place. Even though she head headphones on, she still heard him. She pulled them off her to give her hands something to do.

"It's nothing." She recovered herself quickly. L's amusement dropped, not liking the idea of Alice looking away from him so easily. It was much harder for him to look away from her and it frustrated him that she clearly had that advantage over him. Eying the back of her head, L could smell the sweet scent of oranges. Her white golden hair dropped around her shoulders like flowing water. He had chosen to sit next to her to make up for all the time that was lost without her. He allowed himself to be close to her even though he was never going to confess his feelings. He kept telling himself it was for the sake of his health and job, but in truth he was being selfish. He merely just wanted to be close to her. Unconsciously his hand started to reach for her. Her hair looked warm and he just wanted to confirm that hypothesis by experimenting with physical touch. His conscious stopped him though. His hand started to sweat. He couldn't touch her without having some legitimate excuse. He also could not touch her with somebody watching him. In the corning of his eye, L caught the reflection of Matt watching him on his handheld game. Matt's chocolate brown eyes flickered at the sight of L's hand reaching out towards Alice. L immediately dropped his hand and proceeded with his reading instead. He was careless to even try a move like that when he knew that his three top successors were sitting only a few feet away.

Matt raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he had just seen. Still looking down at his screen of Mario jumping over some turtles, the corners of Matt's lips curved up. What a surprising new twist.

* * *

Alice's face pressed up against the window making her cheek flat against the glass. Her upper lip was pulled up and her eyes looked glazed over. Even a little bit of drool started to form around her bottom lip. They had been driving for about an hour and so far Alice was getting fed up with it. She was bored out of her mind and she had no idea where they were going in the first place. Her thoughts were her only entertainment and she knew it was dangerous for her to be in her own head for a long period of time. It was obvious how dangerous it was by how she acted in that jail cell. Well, the car ride was no different. Her mind wondered back and forth over many random and useless ideas. For example, the syndrome of metaphysical solipsism where one believes in only the exsistance of themselves while others are nothing. Then her thoughts would wonder over the idea of how many marshmallow's she could fit in her mouth. It truly was never a good sign to have her thoughts change so drastically in a matter of seconds.

The scenery had been interesting for the first half hour when they drove through the city, but as soon as they reached the highways, the buildings became less frequent and in no time flat they were driving past fields of cows or sheep. As much as she appreciated nature, Alice would have much rather been in the city. She had never been shopping in Houston and she would have loved to look at what kind of markets they had.

"This is taking forever." Mello groaned with his head leaning back and his arms crossed. His eyes were closed but he still made sure to keep on glaring into the unknown. For once Alice was agreeing with Mello. She was happy to hear that she wasn't the only one going crazy in the car.

"Where are we going anyway?" Alice kept her face in the window. Her voice sounded distorted by the glass. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at Alice; except for Watari who made sure to keep his eyes on the road. That didn't stop him from looking in the rearview mirror though. Alice noticed them all in the reflection of the window staring at her as if she just told them she was pregnant. Well, at least that's what Mello looked like. The others looked not as amused. She peeled her face off the window and slurped in her drool loudly while trying to wipe the rest of it off with her sleeve.

"What?"

"That was attractive." Matt snorted while looking back to his game with a smirk.

"You're a moron." Mello was blunt.

"Excuse me?" Alice got defensive.

"Our destination was determined long before we boarded the plane. Were you not listening when I told you?" L stuck his thumb to his bottom lip. A few days ago he would have sarcastically mocked her, but L was being surprisingly understanding. Alice liked the new L; which is why her answer was much harder to say out loud.

"I wasn't," She looked down at her lap.

"I bet she doesn't even know what the case is about." Mello snorted. Alice pursed her lips together and sweated. He hit the nail on the head, but she was too ashamed to say anything. So instead, she looked back out the window to look as if she didn't hear a word he said. Mello's lip and eye twitched in annoyance.

"It's alright Mello," L surprisingly stepped in. "The week before had been quite stressful and it's considerably understandable for the information to have been overlooked."

Not only did Alice give L a baffled look, but Mello was right there with her. Even though he didn't know L on a personal level, he was sure that L wasn't the type to give excuses for somebody who ignored even his own congregation; Especially Alice who just recently disobeyed his authority in order to blow up a ship. Alice had some of the same thoughts running through her head, only she wasn't thinking about the boat. She was mostly remembering all the times L had something sassy to say to her. And yes, she meant the word sassy. There was no gay insinuation behind the word, though she was sure Fabron would be most pleased to have heard her use it. "Snaps for Alice" as he would always say to praise her.

"Ace! For Christ's sakes stop daydreaming! You're not helping to prove L right!"

Alice jumped at the sound of Mello's voice. She looked over at Mello who was of course using his intense glare to stab a thousand needles into her soul. It didn't take long for the sweat to return. Off to the side Matt was trying to hold in his laughter.

"What?" Alice just made it worse. That broke Matt down and he couldn't help the whoop of laughter that came next. L just rubbed his forehead with one of his hands. Mello used his cocky voice next.

"I was trying to tell you where we were going, but since you seem to no want to listen, I've decided I don't give a shit anymore."

"Well I don't give a shit either," Alice mocked Mello by trying to copy his voice.

"Ace please," Watari sighed from up front. They had put her in the back to give Watari some space to concentrate, but clearly that did not stop the ciaos from happening.

"Tell Mello to _please_! He's the one being an asshole!"

"I'm going to limit your cursing habits Ace. It concerns me that you may be picking up on Mello's bad habit." L was straight forward.

"Fuck you!" Mello went all out, not even caring that he directed that rage at L. To hell with trying to look good. Mello was going to do what he pleased, even if it meant going against L.

"Mello." Watari's voice got harsh. Mello turned away from the two in the back and sneered. He may have grown enough confidence to go against L, but when it came to Watari he was an overly obedient puppy dog. It was his internal shame that he could not seem to gain control over.

"So is anybody going to tell me where we are going?" Alice decided she was just going to ask again. Mello was just told to shut up, so she had no fear of him saying anything in return. But that didn't stop everyone in the SUV to sigh all at the same time. She was impressed by how unified they all were. Luckily Near was passive enough to not really care if Alice had been listening or not. He answered her with his normal flat unemotional tenor.

"The city of Grapeland."

Alice couldn't help the smile that came next. "I'm sorry," She started to laugh. "Did you say Grapeland?"

"Yes." Near didn't have any change in his voice. He was unaware of why Alice was laughing.

"That's brilliant!" Her voice got higher. "I wonder if we'll see a Ferris wheel with passenger cars made to look like grapes!"

"It's not an amusement park." L did not get her joke. Alice was about to explain but she was of course interrupted by Mello, who she thought would be quiet for the rest of the trip. Clearly that was a mistake on her part for thinking that.

"Grapeland is a small rural town with about 1,500 residents. Just because the name sounds like a theme park doesn't make it one."

"Why do I even try?" Alice shook her head. Near spoke again before anyone else could say anything.

"If you are wondering how much longer the car ride will be, then I would estimate another hour or so."

"Another hour!" Alice whined loudly.

"Yes, after departing from Houston, we are now making our two hour drive to Grapeland."

"This state is way too big."

"Instead of focusing on the size of the state," L started to try and refocus her thoughts. "It would be more beneficial for you to focus on the case instead. If you like I could show you some of the documentation again?"

Alice wasn't quite sure when she had seen any of it the first place, but she made sure not to say anything about that. It was probably when she was singing _Gold Digger_ to herself. But shaking it off, she nodded her head and held out her hand to him. She might as well try and distract herself if she was going to be in that SUV for another hour. L was glad to see Alice wanted to participate. He handed her one of the folders and then passed her a small note pad. Alice was hesitant when taking the note pad from him. She looked into his eyes, hoping her expression was enough to form the question of why he was giving her the pad. Luckily it looked as if understood what she was asking.

"I want you to take notes on any of your thoughts or ideas."

Alice agreed to his terms and opened up the folder in her hand. She had expected to see some documentation about the case, like written forms of what had been established over the years of monitoring the drug dealing business. But instead, there was only one photo with a small description under the picture, and it was a photo of an extremely dark skinned man with a bald head. His eyes were just as dark as his skin and his nose and mouth had the signature look of an African American. Right below his right eye was a tattoo and she had to squint to see that it was teardrop. The photo looked like a mug shot and he didn't look happy. The frown lines around his mouth and eyes clearly showed that he did not smile all too often. In the description it only gave his name, age, height, weight, and a random fact that Alice didn't think was all that important to know. Apparently the man was left handed, or as Alice like to call them, southpaw's.

She looked back over to L to see why he had just given her a photo, but L was back to reading his own material, once again ignoring everyone around him. Slowly looking back at the photo in the file and then to the note pad in her hand, her eyebrows raised up when she finally figured out what L was wanting her to do. Just because Matt, Mello, and Near were on the case with them didn't mean she wasn't going to be able to use her ability. With a high self confidence smile returning to her lips, she got straight to work, making sure to not look suspicious as she started to take down some notes.

* * *

The SUV tremble over the dirt rock path. The dust from the dirt blasted from the back tires, creating a cloud of soil trailing behind them. Little pebbles once in a while nicked the side of the car, scaring Alice whenever one struck the window. They were traveling up the apparent driveway to their new home. Alice didn't see a drive way. Just because the road was marked with an address did not mean that there was going to be a house at the end. She convinced herself that they were going to be sleeping in a tent. No matter where she looked, all she saw were fields of grass and a couple large trees. They were in the middle of nowhere. It looked like the kind of place where one would go hiking, walking stick and all. Alice wasn't usually one for getting car sick, but that driveway was turning her stomach into knots.

"I'm going to puke," She mumbled into her hands.

"Do it out the window." Mello gave his owe so friendly advice.

"We are almost there." Watari gave Alice some hope. Alice only leaned more forward and pressed her forehead on the seat in front of her. The cold leather looking material felt soothing.

"Ah! I see it!" Matt got excited, making Alice look up from her hunched over position. But what she saw only made her more nauseous. The house looked like a barn. Literality, it was painted red with white trimming. It looked to be two stories high and the only distinguishing feature it had to make it look like a house was the front porch and white pillars. Other than its western motif, the house looked a little ragged. Some of the paint on the outside had faded and parts of wood looked like they would fall off at any moment. Weeds were growing around the house as if it was the front lawn. The only saving grace Alice had to go off of was the fact that she wouldn't be sleeping in a tent.

"You got to be kidding me." Alice was thankful to hear from Mello. Apparently he was unaware of the housing arrangements as well.

"If there isn't electricity in that house then I'm booking a room in the nearest Hilton." Matt's enthusiasm died for a couple seconds.

"You do not have to worry about the accommodations. I have chosen this hideout for specific reasons." L explained briefly. It was not enough to make Mello feel any better.

"What accommodations could a shack like that have?"

"Seclusion for one." L started to answer. Mello only snorted at this. When Watari reached the barn house, he parked the SUV directly to the side under the shade of what looked like a very old maple tree. The leaves were all a shade of beautiful bright green and the bark chipped and cracked in the pattern of stripes trailing up the trunk. The SUV was turned off and only the sounds of nature were left. Wanting to break free from the prison car as fast as he could, Mello opened his door and jumped out quickly. Matt wasn't long behind him, making sure to pocket his game to protect it from the wildlife outside. Watari was quick too, only his main goal was to help L out of the back seats. Since it was only a four door SUV, the middle seat had to be pushed down to let out the ones in the back. L and Alice waited patiently as Watari pulled the handle that caused the seat to fold. It didn't take long soon after for all of them to get out of car and feel the hard dry dirt under their feet.

Near looked the most out of place. Alice figured it wouldn't take long for his white clothes to get dirt on them from all the dust floating around. Mello and Matt stood on the front porch eying the house as if it was a fungus. It was obvious that they did not want to be there. But they weren't going to say that out loud. They wanted to work on the case with L and they knew if they complained about the house, they would be sent back to the airport on the next flight back to England. Alice joined them on the front porch to look at the house too. She put on the same frown they had. Just because the two boys were not going to say anything didn't stop Alice from saying what was on her mind.

"This place doesn't look stable."

"Nonsense," Watari smiled from behind her while holding onto some of the luggage he pulled from the back of the car. "I've already verified the houses safety, so you have nothing to be concerned about."

Alice rolled her eyes as she let him pass. Watari pulled out a key and unlocked the front door with one click. He was walking in the house as soon as he got the door open. Near passed the three on the porch next, not at all caring what the house looked like. He was here to do his job and if that meant hiding out in the middle of nowhere in some shack, then he was going to do it. The two boys let out a frustrated groan, but followed them inside. Both their boots collided with the wood loudly in which Alice could feel their shudder under her own feet. Then she was left on the porch alone, still not convinced the house was safe. The front door had a screen door in front of it to keep out the bugs, but there were so many holes in it, it was obvious that it no longer was going to do its job. The front door itself was old wood and painted red like the rest of the house. Of course it had broken paint chips that exposed the wood underneath. Then there was the rusty door knob and scratch marks along the bottom. She did _not _want to know what had left those scratches.

"Ace." L interrupted her from behind. "Is something wrong?" He sincerely wanted to know. He could see that she was uncomfortable.

"It's a barn."

"Yes, I am aware."

"It looks old."

"My estimate would be from the late 19th century."

"It's in the middle of nowhere."

"All the better for our safety as detectives."

"It looks like it's going to collapse."

"It won't."

A pause kept the two quite for a moment as Alice tried to come up with more complaints.

"It's a barn."

"I don't see why you are complaining. You lived in one for three months right?"

L had got her there.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Snaps for my reviewers!

**VerityEldrich, HybridRebellion, arisa0, Betsu, Blackenflames, CaribbeanTrinidadian, Isshi Urahara **(Thank you minion **xD**)**, Tsume Yuki, Neon Knightly, alicelouise'x, 1kanako-chan, XBloodMageRikaX, MikaUchiha666 **(Kick ass Reviewer: Freaken sweet. I return the love Sister!)**, Saber Amane, and CellophaneCatastrophy! **(*clasps* I adore you all my subjects...I mean...reviewers/readers. You bring joy to my heart like chocolate does to my stomach. Now I am off to type my next chapter to please you. LOVE FOR EVERYONE!) **  
**

******Princess: **That could be a possibility. Eventually they are going to have to find out, right? **=D**

******Frogata:** You can borrow L if you like, though I will need him back for the next chapter.

**Foam Weber: **I used them all! Even Southpaw! HA! It's a silly thing to get excited about, but it makes me feel like I've accomplished the impossible. So what's next?

** Evalyd Yamazaki: **I actually was planing a chapter with just Near and Alice, so just watch out for it.

****** Bow Down To Gir: **You are more than welcome, and I always get excited when I see your review! **xD**

**********burry and bunny: **No need to apologize Bunny-chan, and I loved your review even if it was influenced by drugs. I hope you are feeling better and your flu is gone. If not, then I hope this chapter will help ease your sickness pain.** =)**

**************tenshi-no-akuma-81: **Your guessing amuses me, and I do mean that nicely. I can't reveal anything to you because it's a mystery, and you're just going to have to read the story to see how it turns out. Thank you for all your wonderful words!****

******************g-minor-art: **Oh I agree about the Mario Karts and being gigantic. What's better then squashing somebody after consuming a mushroom that makes you grow five time your normal size? Nothing. ********

********************** freaksforever:**I love the idea and who knows, it may just happen, but I can't tell you. What I do know is that I wont be getting into the Kira case that is mentioned in the actual Death Note story. I can't do the actually storyline because my timeline and the one with the Kira case are off. Light never found the book and I don't plan on having him in the story. But that doesn't mean my story will be boring, I hope. I have a different story planned out in which I hope you will enjoy. I explained the Kira case in chapter 7 in the heading if your still confused.

**************************Yumeno:** I'm so happy to see that you like my story. AraCooki is still working on the translation if you want to continue reading it in French. She will have the third chapter up soon. _Merci!_ Even if English is not your first language, I'd say you did a good job with it in your reviews.

******************************Sofia10Soccer: **I have changed my greeting to better suit reviewers such as yourself. Thank you for catching that for me! I will update as fast as I can!******************************  
**


	31. Alice gets Horrified: L gets Butterflies

Welcome to Chapter 31 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

You all look quite lovely today.

Did you do something with your hair?

Just a quick heads up, THERE IS MORE FAN ART!

I know! I'm freaking out too!

Just go check out my profile and there will be a link. The art is done by _nA-chan525_.

It's beautiful, just beautiful.

*Whimper* Oh gee, now I have tears in my eyes. *Fans self*

Thank you, you wonderful people!

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own death Note, but I do have ownership over all my OC's)_

* * *

**Alice gets Horrified while L gets Butterflies**

As much as Alice wanted to hate the house, she still couldn't help but feel grateful. She would have much rather be sleeping in a barn then to sleep in that gaudy rich hotel again. Thankfully the barn didn't have any fountains or statues that spit water. There was no marble or gold on the floors or walls. Just old wood and the smell of nature.

Inside the barn at the entrance, it opened up to the living area with a couch that looked as if it was original to the houses interior. The design of the couch had flowers covering it from head to toe. The white background looked yellow form its age. In front of the couch was a rug that looked torn up around the edges, as if something had been chewing on it. Right after the rug was a brick fireplace. Some of the bricks were cracked, but at least it looked decent enough to use. So thankfully they were going to have heat. The walls were stripped bare and only the wood paneling was there. There were no paintings, pictures, or art pieces anywhere. The only artistic piece she could find was the pattern on the rug, and even stripes wasn't much of a stretch.

Past the living room was the kitchen, and Alice wasn't surprised to see large slabs of wood as the countertops. The shelves above the countertops had the occasional broken plate or cup. They looked to be porcelain and probably at one point had a pretty blue design on them. But now they were just chipped and useless. Back in the corner of the kitchen was another fireplace, but this one had some sort of metal structure around it. It looked to be cast iron which meant that it was incredibly old. Alice hoped with all her might that that wasn't going to be their only source to cook on. There weren't any stoves or ovens that she could see and even worse, there wasn't a microwave. Alice could feel her stomach drop. She was going to starve. How else was she going to cook without a microwave? And was that a saddle hanging off of the towel rack? She hadn't seen any horses around when they were driving up to the house.

"Ace, your bag." She heard Watari drop something behind her. She was standing in front of the kitchen trying with all her might to spot something from the 21st century, but everything she saw looked as if it was original to the house. She gave no indication that she heard Watari. In the living room behind her, Mello was carrying his bag over his shoulder while clutching another smaller one in his hand. Matt was right behind him following him to the stairs so they could drop their luggage in the room they were going to be sleeping in.

"Ace." L noticed her frozen form. He was bringing in a bag too, only he left it at the front door for Watari to take care of. Near didn't even bother to do any of the labor. Instead, he followed the other two boys up the stairs to study the second floor.

"I don't see a microwave." Alice pointed to the kitchen in front of her. She decided to just ignore the saddle for now.

"There are no outlets in this dwelling." L answered her flatly. He didn't see the horrors that Alice saw.

"What about electricity?"

"We brought our own equipment for that." L didn't go into any more detail, saving Alice from most of the lingo that would have otherwise gone over her head. Alice didn't probe any further into it anyway, knowing L probably had some incredible machine that could power up an entire city. That, or Matt brought one of his toys. Either way, she wouldn't have to worry about how she was going to use her hair dryer.

"Ace," Watari called her name again, bringing in the last of the luggage from the car. Alice finally decided to acknowledge the old man. She figured staring at the kitchen wasn't going to magically bring forth a microwave. "You should bring your things up stairs to your room."

Alice looked down at her feet at her luggage that he put there a short while ago and frowned. If the down stairs was this bad, she couldn't imagine what the upstairs rooms were going to be like. She could already hear the footsteps of the boys as the floorboards creaked and groaned from under their weight. She was afraid that one of the boys was going to come crashing through the floors. The floor didn't sound like it was going to hold much more. She didn't want to find out that theory by going up there.

"I could sleep down here." She tried to bargain. She had noticed coming in the house that there was a room just off the kitchen that looked to have a bed in it. She was too afraid to walk in the kitchen though and see for herself. Watari was quick to shake his head no.

"There is a perfectly good room upstairs for you. I will be taking the room downstairs. I could never allow a lady such as yourself sleep in the servants room."

Servant's room; so that's what it was. Alice couldn't see the house being so grand, that it required hired help. It was a barn for Christ's sakes. How could the owners from the 19th century be able to afford servants? And did Watari really call her a lady. Alice wanted to roll her eyes at that statement.

"I could sleep outside." Alice thought up a better option, even though she knew she didn't have any of the equipment for such a thing.

Watari only took her remark as a joke and chuckled. "Your humor never seems to go dry my dear."

"I wasn't joking."

"Ace, come on." L moved her along before she said anything more. He pressed his hand on the small of her back and forced her to move towards the stairs while grabbing her bag. Ever since he's allowed her to get close to him, he found touching her to be enticingly more thrilling and easier to do. It was almost as if it was second nature to him.

Alice however didn't even question the touch. She was too busy stumbling with her feet in terror over the thought of being on the second floor. Inch by inch the stairs got closer, and all she could do was hold her breath and hope that by the time she reached the top, she would weigh the size of a feather. At least then she would float to the ground, instead of crash and burn after the floor caved in.

Just upstairs in their new room, Mello and Matt were setting down their luggage onto their beds. Looking around the room, Matt discovered there wasn't much to see. There was only one window inside of a small nook. The sheer light blue curtains around it were torn and ragged. There was even a layer of dust. Beside the nook was a wicker chair that did not even have a padded cushion. Instead, there was a giant hole on the seat which made the chair completely useless. Right after the wicker chair was a dresser. It was all dark wood with little ornate details that would otherwise go unnoticed unless somebody looked at it more closely. It was the only other furniture in the room that looked the most intact besides the beds.

Mello sneered down at his bed with disgust. The bed looked small, as if it was for a child. The blankets on top were quilts. Each panel had some form of floral design to it. The colors were bright and the stitching pattern turned out to be little tiny hearts loping together. It took all his will power not to just throw up. The other two beds in the room didn't look better. They each had a quilt and they each looked about as girly as the next. No matter what, Mello was stuck sleeping in a nightmare.

Matt gazed over at the third bed in the room on the other side opposite of him. He glanced over at Mello who was observing it as well. Matt could only assume their other roommate wasn't going to be somebody Mello was going to enjoy. Whether it was going to be Alice or Near, it didn't matter. But Matt had a feeling it wasn't going to be Alice.

"I'm not sleeping in this bed."

Matt turned back to his friend who was eying the bed as if it was going to stand up and try to eat him.

"You wanna trade?" Matt smirked, pointing down at his own quilt flower mess of a bed. Mello gave Matt a glare in return, not all that willing to joke around with him.

"I couldn't find anything here for my amusement." Near walked in from the doorway, looking a little defeated. Mello snorted in detest.

"This house is over 100 years old, what were you expecting to find?"

Near ignored the question and walked over to his new bed. He curled his hair and touched the quilt with one finger to see what the material felt like. When he lifted his finger off the quilt, a little layer of dust followed with him.

"This house could use a wash."

"You got that right." Matt agreed, picking up a book he found on the floor. A layer of dust and a few spider webs were blown off. He then dropped the book onto his bed to test the dust percentage level. Upon impact, a cloud of dirt spiraled in every direction. It almost looked like he was going to be engulfed in a dust storm. Matt waved his hand in front of his face and started to couch violently. The dust filled up his lungs and he had to get away from the cloud just to breath.

"Smooth." Mello watched his friend suffer. Matt couldn't stop his coughing fit, so instead of using his words, Matt simply flipped Mello off using his middle finger.

"Please tell me I'm not sleeping in here." The three boys heard Alice over Matt's coughing. She and L were standing at the door looking in the room. Alice looked horrified while L wasn't in the least concerned.

"This isn't your room." L answered her. Alice gave a sigh of relief. "Just down the hall here will be your room." Alice didn't waste a second to leave the dust filled explosion and follow where L was pointing. L let her go on her own, knowing he had to put his possessions away in his own room. His room was right near the stairs entrance, giving him the ability to know who was coming up and who was going down. He knew from experience that he had to watch Alice carefully just in case she decided to go off on her own adventure. That was also why Watari stayed downstairs; to watch the front door.

When Alice reached the white wooden door at the end of the hall, she enclosed her hand around the copper colored knob. Her instincts were telling her to run away and just sleep in the woods, but she turned the knob anyway. She just kept telling herself that it wasn't going to be as bad as she imagined it. When she felt the door click, she slowly creak it open to peer inside. Swarms of visuals about having holes in the floors or cockroaches crawling everywhere flashed through Alice's imagination.

She exhaled loudly when she had a good view of the room. There wasn't a hole or bug in site. Instead, there was one wooden bed with a lush fluffy quilt on top of it. Beside the bed was a small dresser made out of the same material as the cot. Alice stepped into the room with more confidence. She gazed out her only window to look at the weed grass lawn. She noticed Watari walking around the SUV with more luggage. She had thought they were through bringing in everything. Tilting her head back, Alice avoided a large spider web and moved back around her room. On the opposite side of her bed up against the wall was a vanity. The wood was a dark red and the mirror only had one crack going right down the middle. Alice though it was beautiful. Tracing her hands over the swirls of carved wood, she pushed the dust around to reveal an even richer red wood. She looked into the mirror and noticed her face cut in half by the crack. One side of her face was pushed up higher than other, giving her a distorted reflection. She smiled to herself; her golden eyes reflected back her own image.

The mirrored image of the bed was behind her. Eying it closer, she noticed something unusual. A little lump was exposed at the center. Alice's heart thumped violently in her chest. She sharply turned back to the bed to see if her eyes were playing a trick on her. Unfortunately the lump was still there when she looked at it without the mirror. Sucking in a shaky breath, she walked over to the bed with caution. She had no idea what she was going to find under that blanket.

"Please don't jump out and bite me." She told the lump. It didn't move. Alice held the corner of the blanket with two fingers, much like L would do. Sweating like mad, she slowly started to lift the quilt up.

In the room next to Alice's, Matt finally recovered from his near death experience and was helping Mello set up the generator that he had brought. Much of the technology he sent over before they left had arrived safely, and it was up to Matt to hook it all together. L was going to help, but he was already busy with his own supplies. Untangling some of the colored wires, Matt twisted and tugged belligerently. He silently used some of Mello's favorite words while trying to unravel a knot.

"KKKKKYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!" Alice's scream echoed all the way down the hall. Both boys jolted upright and looked at each other with bewilderment. .

"Kya?" Mello mouthed. Behind him in the door way, Alice was seen running away with her hands up shaking back and forth violently.

"Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!" Her voice died out as she passed by their room.

At the end of the hall right where the stairs were positioned, L was in his room standing over his lab top. He was on the other side of the queen size bed away from the door, but that didn't stop the echo from Alice's high pitched scream. He looked up from his work just in time to see his door slam open. Alice had used her foot once again to barge into L's privet room, but this time she hit it so hard that the top hinge came undone. The door tilted forward and cracked. L flinched at the sound and watched her jump onto his bed as if the floor had become lava.

"Oh my god! EEEEWWWWW!" She kept on screaming while jumping around on his bed.

"Ace…?" L started to ask, but Alice interrupted him before he could finish his question.

"There is a _DEAD RAT_ on my bed!"

L had no idea how to respond to that. He was still in shock over his door being kicked down. Alice didn't like that he wasn't answering her, so she got onto her hands and knees and crawled over to him like an over energized dog, pushing the covers around as if they were blocking her path to him. When she reached him, she grabbed onto the front of his white shirt and pulled him closer to her face.

"L, the rat is huge." She stated more calmly. At least she thought she did. L didn't hear her the same way. In his point of view her eyes looked wild and her breathing was just as rapid as her heartbeat.

Matt and Mello appeared at the doorway to witness Alice grabbing hold of L. L was too preoccupied with Alice being so close to him to care if he had an audience.

"A rat?" He tried to register the word. His mind was getting distracted by her rosy cheeks and round peach lips. Her breath smelled like fresh mint.

"It's dead." She repeated to him, gripping the front of his shirt more tightly. "And big."

Clear down the hall a voice interrupted their little dramatic scene.

"She's right; this rat is abnormally large for its size." Near yelled from her room. Alice gave L her most pitiful pleading look and whined. Her bottom lip quivered. L felt his heart throb and his pulse increase. It was an adorable look.

"Then we should dispose of the dead carcass." L went on auto pilot. It felt like every nerve in his body was on overdrive. He could feel his control slipping. To elude this problem, L had to revert back to talking like a robot and getting rid of all his internal emotions.

"I refuse to sleep in that room."

"The bedding will be washed for you." L's heart kept getting faster.

"That still won't make me forget about the rat."

"We could replace the bed."

"That won't help."

"Then what do you suppose…"

"Let me sleep with you."

The whole room went dead quiet. L couldn't feel his heartbeat, but he was pretty sure it wasn't because his heart stopped. It was because he was screaming in his head the answer he wanted to say out loud. But he kept his mouth shut tight. There was no possibility of answering her request truthfully without giving away his hidden feelings.

"What?" The remark came from Mello.

"I found the cause of the rat's death." Nears voice picked up again from down the hall. "It attempted to consume a smaller rat by swallowing it whole. Seems its stomach couldn't handle the large meal."

Alice felt her stomach do a flip. Her face turned a pale shade of green and she had to let go of part of L's shirt to cover her mouth. She could already feel the bile trail up her throat.

"Oh god," She moaned painfully.

"This I got to see," Matt sounded a little too enthusiastic for Alice's sake. She heard the sound of his boots hitting the wood as he walked down the hall to her room. L never took his focus off of Alice. Seeing her symptoms worsen, he snapped back to reality and started to rub her back to try and relive some of the pressure. Her last request still repeated in his head, but he used all his strength to set the thought aside and help her. His hand shook, but he figured he was doing incredibly well for what the situation had become.

"No way!" Matt's excited cheer reverberated next. Alice made a gagging noise.

"Mello." L put on his professional mask. Mello shut his open jaw and looked to L with furrowed brows. "Please take care of the rat."

Mello looked back and forth between Alice and L. He swayed on both feet for a second to see if his legs could move. His eyes kept darting in different directions, his thoughts clearly making him distracted, but L knew he was listening. Mello nodded his head with a frown and finally walked out of the doorway. L was thankful that Mello was going to do as he was told. When he was sure Mello was far enough away not to hear him, he used his free hand that wasn't stroking Alice's back to lift her back up again.

"Ace," His hands finally stopped shaking. His mentality flooded away the fog and his spirits heightened. It seemed that her presence was getting easier to be around. The longer she was with him, the more comfort he received. He only wished she could feel the way he did at the moment. But her face was still green and her arm he was holding was cold. It took all her strength to look him in the eyes. L loved the color of her eyes, but he had to stay focused. He had to practice what he was going to say to her just to make sure he was going to answer her request properly. He repeated his answer about five times in his head and then took in a deep breath. "You may sleep with me."

_Shit!_ That wasn't what he wanted to say! L felt his throat clench tight. What he really wanted to offer her was his room while he slept downstairs. He had even practiced the line five times! His eyes flutter closed, exhaling as if his last breath was leaving him. He never felt so out of his control in his life. Darn his male internal instincts!

Alice's completion lightened dramatically. The once pale green and droopy eyes had reverted back to their normal state of peach and glow. The plea in her eyes vanished and a sign of gratitude replaced them.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" She wrapped both her arms around his neck. Her chest pushed up against his and her cheek touched his ear. L felt something inside his stomach flutter. Almost as if he had consumed live butterflies and they were trying to escape. His face felt hot and his hands felt sweaty. Her cheek pressed up against his ear made his neck tingle. The feeling was perfect and he never wanted it to end. Slowly he wrapped his arms around her back, afraid that if he went too fast, he would scare her away. When his fingers touched the fabric of her shirt, he felt the butterflies in his stomach go wild. His heart was making his whole body pulse, which made it impossible to feel her heart. He wanted to know if her heart was beating as fast as his, but he never got the chance. She pulled away from him with a victorious smile.

"I'll go get my things." She giddily squealed, and soon was out the room, leaving behind L in his petrified state. The warmth was gone and his butterflies ceased their flight. The disappointment hit him hard, as if his favorite dessert was thrown away in front of him. He wanted the touch to last longer. But his disappoint didn't last long when he thought about the outcome of their little talk. Alice was going to be sleeping in the same room with him, in the same bed none the less. L felt his face heat up again.

"OH MY GOD!" Alice made her presence down the hall known throughout the whole house.

"Look, you can see the smaller rat. It didn't digest all the way." Matt's boisterous laugh came next.

"Why is it cut open?" L heard her gag again.

"Dissection." Near was blunt as always.

"This isn't a rat, this is a fucking gopher." Mello added in his two cents, sounding impressed by its size.

"Oh my stomach." Alice's rapid footsteps could be heard running down the hall. L watched her pass his room and run down the stairs as if something was chasing her. Her feet were moving so fast, he thought she was going to trip. But he never heard her fall. Instead he heard the front door and screen crash open. L's face went paler then usual when he heard her stomach empty. At least she had the common sense to throw up outside.

"Oh my," Watari's worried tone was heard over the sound of Alice's heaves. Not wasting another minute, L hurried out his room to go be by her side. In the distance, L heard Matt's merriment from the window in Alice's room.

"Nice!"

* * *

The morning had finally come to an end after a long day's work unloading and organizing. The cables had to be distributed throughout the whole house, while programs had to be authorized. Matt typed to capacity. He thought his fingers were going to fall off. The house had been bare to start with, so he had to program every electronical device they had, even the simple clocks or phones. It had been a long time since he's had to work that much and he felt he was being singled out. After Alice's little incident with the rat, L had made her sit on the couch and relax while her stomach settled down. She didn't have to lift a finger since Watari got whatever she asked for. When Mello finally disposed of the rat, L focused on Matt to finish all the work that needed to be done. L was supposed to help him, but he went off with Watari to discuss the case and help Alice with whatever she needed. Matt got the feeling that L was punishing him for laughing at Alice. He couldn't prove it, but his gut was telling him L was protecting Alice. But there was no use fretting about their relationship now. There was food in front of him and he was starving.

Alice was consuming her meal as fast as Matt. Her stomach had been emptied out not long ago and she needed to refill it. Even if there wasn't a microwave or stove, Watari did an excellent job using what little he had to make their lunch. They were all sitting at a table in the kitchen, spooning up mouthfuls of beef stew cooked over the little fire in the back. Apparently there were no dining rooms in the 19th century, so they had to eat in the kitchen. It tasted magnificent. Alice's tummy purred with delight.

"I love your cooking Watari." She praised him with a mouth full of food.

"Thank you," Watari was more proper while eating his stew. His elbows stayed to his side and his back was straight as a board; a true gentleman. L was at the head of the table, though to nobody's surprise, he wasn't eating stew. Instead he had a large piece of cake in front of him covered with raspberries and sprinkles. Alice had no idea how Watari had managed to bake him a cake without an oven. But Watari was a master of the impossible.

"After lunch Ace if you feel well enough, I have a task for you."

Alice lifted her head from her bowl over to L with a bit of the stew running down her chin. Her cheeks were blown out as if she were going to harvest her food for the winter like a chipmunk. Without even attempting to be proper, she spoke with her mouth full of the stew.

"Wha bask?"

"Our operation is located ten minutes away from the main part of the city, and I need you to scope out the city to memorize the layout."

Finally Alice swallowed her food. "And you want me to do it?"

"Yes, the size of the town isn't large, and I feel you could do this one your own. All I ask of you is to record your findings and any other anomalies that seem to be worth your time to observe. You are not required to speak to any of the locals, but since you are a so called _social butterfly_, I will allow you to acquaint yourself with the people."

"You're serious about this?"

"Why would you assume otherwise?"

"Well…the last time I was off on my own…"

"She blew up a fucking ship." Mello finished for her, his bowl already empty.

"Yeah, that," Alice wasn't in the least offended by Mello's help.

"The past is the past. I hope by now that you have matured enough to work on your own."

"You're going to pin some tracking devise on me, aren't you?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

"It's already on you."

" What!" Alice sharply looked down at her body and felt around her stomach and pants.

"Calm down Ace, you've had it on before we even left the house." Matt set his spoon down in his empty bowl while patting his stomach. A smile played at his lips from the satisfaction of his stomach being full.

"Oh that makes me feels better." She rubbed her forehead.

"Matt, if you wouldn't mind, I would like her to use your vehicle." L brought back the attention to him. Running through his hair with one hand, Matt nodded and sighed. If felt like yet again L was punishing him. But he didn't look too much into it. Instead, he stood up from the table and patted Alice on the shoulder.

"Alright, let's go princess. Your chariot awaits."

Alice ran both hands through her hair and frowned, hoping to feel the device Matt had talked about earlier. Nothing felt out of place and she sighed. She only hoped the device wasn't somewhere on her that she would later regret to find. Knowing that it was on her without her knowing made her feel violated.

* * *

Stepping outside in the hot Texas weather, Alice already felt the sweat build up on her forehead. She didn't know where Matt was taking her, but they were walking quite a ways away from the house and the large SUV. She had asked Matt earlier why she wasn't allowed to use the SUV and he only responded with the obvious fact that she would stand out among the small town. Apparently his means of transportation was a much better fit for the surrounding area.

Alice's boots kicked around some of the large rocks on the driveway. She had changed out of her sneakers and put on cowboy boots. She figured Texas was the right place for them and it would be easier to move around in. Watching the dust spiral around them in mini dust devils, a heavy patch of tall grass and shrubbery came into view. Squinting her eyes from the sun, Alice could vaguely see the color red. For a moment, Alice wondered if Matt had brought his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle.

"I hope you know how to drive a stick." Matt pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. Coming up behind the large patch of foliage, Alice got a better look at the vehicle. It was defiantly not his Chevelle, but it was a Chevrolet. It was a Chevy red dump truck, and it looked ancient. The front of it was rounded and the red paint looked just and chipped and peeled as the house. It had a few places with rust on it, but other than its shabby appearance, it didn't look too bad.

"Here she is. Pretty, isn't she?" Matt took a drag of his cigarette.

"Oh, she's something." Alice forced a smile. Her only wish was to not find a dead rat on the seat. Other than that, she would do fine.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND OR REVIEWING!

**Shibo26, alicelouise'x, MikaUchiha666, VerityEldrich, Neon Knightly, XBloodMageRikaX, Aea, Betsu, nekuranekomegami, AraCookie, Tsume Yuki, and MoonVX.** (Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I wouldn't know what this story would be like without you. You all make it so much easier to write my chapters!)

**Isshi Urahara:**I love using "so"! It makes my argument refutable. I win all the time with it. **=D** If you hadn't had your coffee yet today, then may I suggest something with lots of whip cream? I don't drink much coffee, but I do know everything tastes better with whip cream.

**g-minor-art:**Good god that's hot! Since I live on the west coast, it doesn't usually reach over 100 or even 90 degrees. I'm more used the cold weather and rain. I remember my camp days! How nogalistic. Sleeping in bunks, large camp fires, running around in the dark with a flashlight hoping quietly to myself that a bear wont come out and attack me. Yup, the good old days.

**Frogata:** 20 bucks? Oh dear...would a cookie and genuine smile let me use him for the chapter? They're chocolate chip. **=D** Oh and a closet? I LIKE it! I love getting idea's from my reviewers! There are so many uses for closets, he he.

**OhMyGeePinkSucksAss:** I'm not quite sure what you meant by England's atm. But I do know what you mean by roasting under 20 to 27ºC heat. I'm more used to the cold and wet.

**Yumeno: **I have told AraCookie about the review problem and she has fixed it.

**Foam Weber:** Win! *Dances*

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** Oh gosh this one is hard. I have so many different thoughts and ideas, but I know that they probably aren't the right answer. When I saw sacrificial alter, I thought about the _Chichen Itza_, which is that old Mayan temple. But I knew that couldn't be it since it's not always in the sun. Then I thought it was the north pole, but of course there is no sun on the pole in December when that darn solstice comes around. So I give up, what is it? **  
**

**animelover56348: **Hey Raven, you mind if I call you Raven? Anywho, Matt's eye color was never actually set in stone in the Manga or Anime from what I've gathered. But from a screen shot I saw in the anime it looked as if he had brown eyes. I could be wrong, but for my story, hes going to have brown eyes. I'm so happy you love my story! Thank you so much for reading it!**  
**

**nA-chan525:**I never liked L dieing either! Anyway, I thank the again for thy wonderful artwork. May your artistic genies continue to flow and prosper. I bow to the oh great master of the arts!

**gothic mermaid: **Muhahahaha! Oh how I love Halloween! I'm actually planning on a Halloween random fun chapter that will be posted on the holiday itself, so watch out for it. I can't give away the costumes, but I think you'll enjoy Alice's creativity. **xD**

**freaksforever: **I hadn't heard of the song but I listened to it right away after you told me. I love it! I think it's perfect and the fact that it was in the Alice in Wonderland movie just makes it all the better. **  
**


	32. Time to Explore, Texas Style

Welcome beautiful people to Chapter 32 of_ An Ace up my Sleeve_!

MORE GREAT NEWS!

_Beyond Barby_ has stepped up to translate this story into Spanish! XD

I know I tend to freak out a lot, but I always have a good reason for doing so.

SPANISH PEOPLE!

Do you know what that means?

My story is now translated in _TWO_ different romantic languages!

KICK ASS!

On my profile will be a link to the Spanish Translation, so check it out!

Enjoy the chapter guys!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, but I am now the proud owner of a story translated into three different languages)_

* * *

**Time to Explore, Texas Style**

Alice never did question why L had let her go out by herself. She never even gave the odd task a second thought. Instead, she just hopped into Matt's truck and took off. She let the dust grow behind her and her worries about the house evaporate away. Surprisingly the only way to contact the boys was by her phone. She didn't even have on the pendant or ear piece, which meant she was entirely alone. Except for the tracking devise somewhere on her, but she didn't let that thought ruin her moment of freedom. It had been a long time since she was by herself. The moment she was off the driveway and onto the empty road, that sense of freedom from when she ran away from home came flooding back. She felt so alive. It was as if the adrenalin from when she crawled through her window to get to the tree, was pumping through her veins. It felt as if she was running away again, even though she knew that there wasn't any possibility of doing that without them knowing.

Drumming her fingers on the slim handled steering wheel, Alice felt the weight of her new bracelet swing back and forth. The truck shook as it moved. Matt had told her it was safe, but she was pretty sure trucks weren't supposed to shake when they moved. But shrugging it off, Alice turned on the radio instead to relieve herself from the silence. A deep bass like voice hummed to the sound of a guitar being strummed leisurely. It was what any country song would sound like when the subject of the song was about longing and heartbreak. Alice never really cared for country music, but she was already driving down a dismal lonely road in a truck much older than her. She was wearing jeans and cowboy boots. Her hair was up in a pony tail, and she stopped herself from putting on too much makeup to keep herself looking more natural. She wanted to make sure she looked as western as the rest of the locals. So humming to a song she's never even heard of, or much less would ever listen too, was just another way to feel the cowgirl inside of her. The bass like voice the man produced shook the truck even more.

Watching out for any street signs that would point her to the town, Alice took a moment to observe her surroundings more closely. On the way to the barn she had spaced out the last hour of the trip, not interested in the fields of cows or sheep. But since she was on her own (Theoretically) she decided it would benefit her to remember the route to and from her new home. The road she was on was of course baron. There were no cows or sheep. There weren't any barns or houses. There wasn't a school, market, or even a gas station. Nothing but fields of dead grass and telephone wires. Alice could vaguely see some mountains in the background, but a lining of a forest blocked most of her view. This did nothing to brighten her spirits. She liked nature, but there only so much she could take before thoughts of wild animals coming after her would start to make her go crazy.

The only part of her that kept herself sane was the fact that she knew it would only take ten minutes to reach town, and she had only been driving for a least five.

Right?

She had forgotten to look at the clock before she left, and the truck didn't have one. She would have to look at her phone to see the time, but her phone was in her pocket. Alice knew her driving skills were only at her best if she was concentrating on the road. If she took her eyes off the road for a second, she had no doubt in her mind that she would crash into some unknown ditch. So getting her phone out of her pocket was a definite no. Biting her lip, she read a sign that had some odd number on it. She didn't know what the number meant or where she was even going. She groaned loudly and turned off the radio. The song had changed into something more upbeat, and Alice wasn't in the mood to listen to something happy.

Her only option was to just pull over and call the boys for directions. She felt her pride rip apart as she steered to the side of the road. Gravel and rock kicked up from her back tires as she came to a stop. The truck squeaked and groaned loudly as if it was complaining to her about having to stop. She honestly did want to ask the boys for help. She had only just been let go on her own and already she was in need of assistance. This would prove that Alice was helpless without them, which she knew she wasn't. Picking her cell phone out of her pocket, she looked at the time and pursed her lips together tightly. It had been exactly ten minutes that she had been driving, and there was no town in site. Hitting the steering wheel once, she looked through her back window to see if she might have missed a sign. She unfortunately did not see a sign, but the site of a man in the distant field across the street brought her hope. It was the hope that she did not have to ask the boys for help. Not even caring if the man was bad news, she quickly opened her door with a jerk. The door would occasional become stuck, so Alice would have to use force to open it. The door screeched shut behind her as her boots kicked up the dirt.

She made sure to keep her eye on the man in the field so she wouldn't lose him. He was too far away to make out any real details, but from what she could see, she made out that he was working with an odd farming tool. He was hacking at the dirt with what look like some sort of pick axe. It looked incredibly tiring. The heat didn't help either. Alice thought she was going to boil in her own boots. She was going to have to think about wearing shorts next time she stepped outside. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, she crossed the road and picked up her pace.

"Hey sir!" She called out to him while jogging. Alice was happy to see the man stop what he was doing to look up at her. The man was wearing a cowboy hat, so the features on his face became more visible to Alice after he looked up. She slowed her pace down to make sure she took in every detail. He looked to be in his forties, though his callused hands and cracked skin made him look older then he was. His dark chocolate colored skin looked to be his only protection from the sun, but Alice wasn't sure his skin was helping him all that much. The clothing he was wearing looked as if they had been worked in all his life. Stains of sweat and soil spotted his white cotton shirt. Suspenders held up brown flimsy pants. His boots looked just as used and torn.

The man set his tool down and took off his hat as Alice approached him. His hair was black and short, little curls forming into an afro.

"Howdy ma'm, can I help you?" His deep American southern accent came on strong. Alice looked into his eyes first, knowing that the eyes were the window to somebody's soul. She was relieved to see his eyes were gentle. There was pain in them as well, but he looked as if he had gained wisdom through life experiences that Alice would never come to truly understand. Stopping in front of him, Alice looked at her own reflection in his dark, almost black, colored eyes. She didn't realize she had on such a distressed looking expression. Contorting her face back to something more normal, she began to ask for directions.

"Could you tell me where Grapeland is?"

"Ah, yes, Just keep headin' yonder," He pointed in the direction she was driving. "And you'll be there soon'nuff."

He voice was as gentle as his eyes. He had a friendly smile and a joy to him that Alice couldn't quite understand where was coming from. He felt like a man Alice would want to hear stories or learn from. His wisdom seemed almost as infinite as his kindness.

"Thank you," She smiled to him in slight awe.

"I'd hate to be pushy ma'm, but yew wouldn' be a maverick now, would'dya?" He fiddled with his hat in his hands. His accent only seemed to be getting thicker, but Alice was still able to piece together most of what he asked her.

"Maverick?"

"Pardon me ma'm, I'm askin' if you're by yourself."

"Oh, no. My family is with me, I'm just going out on my own to do some site seeing."

"Is dat right? Well I'm happy to hear dat." He seemed relieved. Alice gave him a questionable look.

"Is it dangerous out here on my own?"

"Dangerous enough. It wouldn' be right for a young woman such as yourself to be on your own."

"Well thank you for your concern." She passed off his little warning. "I'm a tough girl. I can handle anything."

The man laughed with her, catching on with her positive attitude.

"Well than I should have nothin' to worry bout." The gentleness from his speech made their conversation seem as if they had known each other all their lives.

"Thank you for your help sir." She decided he deserved the formality.

"You don't need to call me that," He looked as if he blushed, but his smile was still there. "The names Jim."

"Well then, thank you Jim." She nodded to him. She liked his simple name. It would be a name she could easily remember, and she had a feeling she would never forget.

"Was nothin'. Glad I could help."

Alice knew she needed to move on, but something inside of her wanted to stay and talk to him more. But she suppressed the feeling and made herself move her feet. It was slow at first, but she managed a good pace back to the truck. She stopped close to the street when she remembered she forgot something. She quickly turned around to watch Jim as he was putting back on his hat.

"Hey Jim! My name is Alice!"

Jim looked back, and Alice could immediately make out the smile that came next. Without using his words, he tipped his hat to show her that he heard her loud and clear. Alice felt a sense of warmth build up inside of her. A sense of goodwill and the static feeling of knowing she just made a new friend. She waved to him one last time and turned back toward her truck. By the time she made it back and was buckled in the front seat, she decided to look back one last time. Gazing out her passenger window, she frowned when she saw that she was once again alone on that stretch of road. The dirt the man had been plowing went back to looking as if it had never been touched. He was gone and Alice wasn't sure if she would ever see him again. But she was grateful none the less for his help. Not many of the dead would be as kind and as gentle as he was to her.

Alice started up the engine and listened to it roar to life. There were a few popping noises, but she figured it just the sound old trucks made. Kind of like when the elderly have joints that pop. The sounds just come with age. Pulling out of the dirt, Alice got back onto the road and looked into her rearview mirror. There was nothing but empty field behind her.

* * *

"Have you made it to the city yet Ace?" L made it clear to Alice that he was worried about her own sense of direction. All huffed at him in return, just passing the magical sign that indicated that she had now entered the city of Grapeland, the _Paradise in the Pines_. Luckily she had headphones for her phone, so she could talk to L and drive at the same time. Though she made sure not to distract herself too much since she knew multitasking in a vehicle wasn't her strong suit.

"Yes I have. You need to chill."

"Changing my body tempter won't make me relax. I would rather know if you've made it to your destination safely."

Alice rolled her eyes at that remark, but then regretted doing so when she started to go into the other lane. Correcting herself quickly, she decided it would be best to pull over somewhere and talk. Finding an empty parking lot to an abandoned store front, Alice turned off her truck and sunk back into her seat.

"I don't need you to worry about me. I've made it to the town without any trouble. It's only a ten minute drive anyway." She lied to him, thinking back to the extra two minutes she had to go before she saw the sign. She also made sure to avoid the subject of her new friend she met along the way. She had a feeling that L wasn't ready to hear her talking about ghosts when she still had to prove her other abilities first.

"I shouldn't have doubted you, my apologies." L felt better after hearing her answer. "In your glove compartment there should be a note book and a pencil." L then switched into business. "Please make sure to record all of your observations."

Alice checked the glove compartment and found what L had been talking about. She snorted into the phone next.

"This will be easy."

"Please don't take this so casually. Your observations are extremely important."

"Don't worry boss, I got this."

Her not-so-reassuring words did nothing to ease L's beating heart. He couldn't stop the images of the town catching on fire or wild animals breaking out from some zoo. Both outcomes couldn't possibly happen, but L worried nevertheless.

"Just stay out of trouble."

"Ha! We'll see," Alice snorted again.

"Ace please!" L hardened his voice, but it was already too late. Alice had hung up her phone. L's only option was to just wait it out and see what she would do. He did not particularly like that option.

Alice proudly put her phone back into her pocket. Deciding she ought to start, she opened her note book and looked out her front window. She had just entered the town, so there wasn't much to see. Besides the abandoned store behind her, there were large trees opening up to a street that a sign on the right. She was too far away to see the sign, so getting out of her truck, she decided walking was going to easier then taking the truck. She wouldn't have been able to write anything anyway if she was driving. Reaching the sign, she read _Main St_. Oh, that helped.

Scratching the back of her head, she sighed heavily. "Maybe I should have brought a map…" She said to nobody in particular.

"Hey!" A young man's voice caught her attention. Alice sharply turned around to look back at her truck where she found a teenage boy gazing at her truck in awe. "This your truck?"

Alice felt the corners of her mouth arch up. From what Alice could see, the guy had short dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes. He had a strong jaw and soft smile. When he smiled, Alice immediately liked him. He had a southern charm to him that could only be obtained through hard work and a loving family. He had _good boy _written all over him. His denim jeans and plaid shirt looked dirty, but Alice could see that he was wearing gloves, which meant he must have been working recently.

"Hello trouble." Alice whispered to herself as her smiled widened. "Yeah, it's mine!" She answered him loudly. The guy went back to looking inside of the truck. It was obvious to Alice that he liked what he was seeing. Deciding it would be rude not to introduce herself, she made her way back over to her truck. But not without swinging her hips with a little more exaggeration. A little flirting wasn't going to hurt anyone. When the teenager saw her approach, she watched him try to wipe off some of the dirt from his pants. He was trying to make himself look more presentable for her, which only made her smile even more. He was cute.

"Howdy ma'm, my name is Eric." He held out his hand after he took off his glove. His voice wasn't nearly as deep as Jim's, but the formality was still just as strong. He had to have been a least eighteen years old.

"Nice to meet you Eric, My name is Ace." She shook his hand. His hand felt rough, but that only meant he worked outside a lot. His hand was also much larger then her own. She didn't have to look to far up though since he only was a few inches taller than her.

"Ace? I don't suppose that would be a nickname now would it?"

"Yes, it is." She let him know, knowing she wasn't going to tell him her real name anyway.

"Well I like it." His smiled broadened. "You're not from around here, are yeah?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well your accent was a give away, but looking at your boots, I could tell just the same." He laughed lightly.

"My boots?" Alice looked down at her feet.

"Nobody around these parts wears snake skins. Especially them showy kind with a design label."

"I thought they looked pretty." Alice moved one of her boots back and forth to check out the bright colorful scales. The boots were a part of her favorite brand collection, _Silk Flower._ Eric laughed again.

"They sure are, but with a face like yours, you wouldn't need them." A tint of red flared on his cheeks. Alice knew she had him at that point. She could corrupt him so easily, but she controlled herself for the sake of her work.

"Thank you," She looked down to pretend to be embarrassed. Eric cleared his throat and quickly and changed the subject to recover from his own shyness. His patted her car door with admiration.

"This is a mighty fine Chevy you got here."

"You like her?" Alice used Matt's own gender roll for the vehicle.

"She's a butte. She looks well taken care of for the age that she is." He looked the Chevy up and down. Alice didn't really see what Eric was seeing. There was rust and peeled paint all over it. Eric noticed the face she was making and smiled even wider. "You haven't been to the country all that much have you?"

"You caught me, I'm a city girl." She held up both her hands.

"Where you from?"

Alice chewed on the inside of cheek and tried to come up with a random place. From the way she spoke, she didn't have that many options. So she decided to make her answer general.

"England."

"England? You're far from home. What brings you to Texas?"

"Just doing some site seeing." She shrugged her shoulders. Alice watched Eric rubbed the back of his neck and sway on his feet. She could tell that he was preparing himself to ask her a question that would probably embarrass him more. He even started to avoid eye contact.

"If you'd like, I could show you around?" He stared into the deep red of her truck. Alice had him right where she wanted him. It was all going according to her plan.

"That would wonderful!" She faked her overjoy. She was concerned it might have been too much, but the smile that reached Eric's lips told her that she acted the part perfectly. She was defiantly going to gloat about her triumph when she got back to the house.

"Great," His voice cracked a little, but he cleared his throat to fix the problem. "I have to go drop off the hay at my neighbors and then I can show you around the city." He pointed his thumb behind him. It was then that Alice just noticed the large blue Dodge truck with a few hay bales in the back. Alice started to get excited after seeing his truck.

"Let's go!" She laughed while jogging past him towards his truck. Eric made a double take from her to his truck. He was surprised to see her so comfortable driving with him, even though they had just met. It took him a while to register that she was already opening up his passenger door.

"Wait! I'm coming." His heart fluttered.

* * *

Alice had him wrapped around her finger. Anywhere she wanted to go or asked about, Eric was always there to answer or take her there. She had learned a lot from Eric about the town and about his own life back on the farm. He was a true southern gentleman that grew up on a ranch outside of the city. Alice learned that he helped his family raise cows and horses. He was in charge of their feed and housing maintenance. He groomed the horses and occasionally took them out to help keep the livestock in check. He was the image of what Alice had pictured in her mind of what a cowboy should be.

Around the city itself, Alice discovered little shops and restaurants that she would have otherwise overlooked. The most famous restaurant they had was the _Café & Creamery_ located on the _main St_ Alice had been on before. The cafe had been decorated for an upcoming peanut festival that was to take place in one week. Every little nicknack had some sort of peanut theme to it. Even a decoration of a penguin used as a peanut shell cracker. Alice didn't really understand why they would have such a toy in the middle of a state known for its heat and humidity. Along the entire street had other buildings connected to each other. Some were bright blue and others looked as if they belonged in the old west. Cars were parked diagonally along the sidewalk, which made it obvious that it was the most popular place to be in town. Alice was also shown the library, the governmental building, a very bright white church, and a cemetery that was eligibly haunted by an old woman. Alice took note to never go in there for later.

By the time the tour of the town had ended and Eric was pulling up to the empty parking lot that had Alice's truck, the sun was about to touch the horizon. It was getting late and Alice needed to head back home to report her findings.

"I never knew such a small town could have that much character." Alice unbuckled her seatbelt after he parked next to her truck.

"Around here there's never a boring moment." Eric followed her, getting out first before she could open her door. The entire time he had shown her the town, he had been opening her door for her. Alice thought the gesture was precious. There weren't a lot of men out there who would be gentlemen enough for the act. The only other man that did that for Alice was Watari, and she was pretty sure he was trained to be a gentleman. After Eric helped her out of his truck, he took a step back to admire her from a distance. Alice knew right away that he had a crush on her, and even though she had been using that affection to her advantage, she didn't take it any further then what the relationship already was. She was a master of trickery, but she had enough sense to know when to not push her luck.

"Thank you for the tour Eric."

"It was my pleasure." He bowed his head a little. "Do you plan on coming to town tomorrow?" His eyes looked hopeful. Alice's heart felt as if it was just stabbed lightly.

"I might." She gave him her warmest smile. Eric copied her.

"Good." He signed with heavy relief, but he caught himself doing the silly act and placed his hands firmly into his packets. "Well then, I'll be seeing you around Ace."

Alice held in her giggle and nodded her head. "Goodbye." She turned on her heel. She felt his eyes on her back as she made her way over to her Chevy red truck. She made sure to give him a good view of her behind as she sashayed the last few steps. She wasn't surprised to hear him speak again.

"If you like you can call me tomorrow to make plans. I'll be available after two."

Alice placed a hand on her hip and turned to look at him with a coy smirk. "We'll see." She chuckled, scrunching up her nose. Eric leisurely laughed in return, admiring her even more than before.

L wasn't going to approve of her new friend, especially since they had exchanged numbers. She knew very well that she was going to get in trouble for doing so, but she felt it was necessary for her work to have contact with one of the locals. Without Eric, Alice probably would have never gotten as much information about the town as she had. Getting into her truck, Alice started up the engine. It groaned and popped, but came to life with an intense roar. She gave Eric one last wave and drove out of the parking lot with Eric giddily smiling to himself.

The day couldn't have gone any more perfect. She didn't even get into trouble once. Now she had every right to rejoice over her accomplished mission and rub in the boys faces. She was going to make L praise her for her brilliant acting and witty charm. She was going to get Watari to make her the dessert she wanted and then get the boys to bow down at her feet. She would have loved to see Mello shrink to the ground and commend her for her Oscar winning performance. Alice felt her grip on the steering wheel tighten as she pictured herself on a throne while the boys handed her jewelry and expensive chocolates. Her vision lasted for about two minutes before she realized she was about to drive into the field. Alice sharply turned the wheel and swerved back onto the road with a screech. Her heart raced in her chest as she breathed heavily for a couple seconds.

"That was close," She exhaled loudly.

"No kidding,"

Alice snapped her head to her right and tightened her gripped onto her steering wheel. There in all his druggy glory was Doug, and he looked about as tweaked out as he was back in England. His hair was still messy and his eyes were as bloodshot as ever. Alice's heart was already going through an attack, so the only sensible part of her that she could bring to life was her voice. And boy did she use it. Alice screamed bloody murder. She had lost all her ability to drive straight and was in no time feeling the uneven jerried rocks and hills that lined the side of the road. She realized she needed to stop the car, so she slammed on the breaks.

"ALICE WATCH OUT!" She heard Doug scream under her own shriek. It was too late for Alice to see what was coming. The trucks breaks cause the back end to spin out and leave skid marks on the road. The truck did a complete 360 before it kicked off into a small ditch. The front of the truck tipped forward and was stopped by a large blackberry bush. Alice was pushed forward too, but her seat belt held her to her seat safely. The only damage she took was to her stomach, and that was because of the seat belt being pressed against her tightly. Hearing the silence after the crash made the whole scene feel as if she was in a photo. Everything looked still and grainy. Only after a moment to herself did she finally start to hear her own breathing and the sound of the motor turning off. Her knuckles looked white when she discovered she was still gripping the steering wheel. Alice tore away from the wheel as if it had just burnt her hands. Accessing the damage in from of her, the only part of the truck that looked to be in bad shape was the hood. The hood was bents at the end into a triangle. There was no steam coming from the motor or any weird sounds she could make out. It seemed the truck looked safe enough to drive. But that was the last thought on Alice's mind. Snapping her head back over to her right, she gave Doug a glare so sinister that she hoped it would a burn through his head.

"I saw my life flash before my eyes." Doug ran a shaky hand through his hair.

"What the hell Doug!" Alice's voice squeaked loudly.

"You almost killed us." Doug gave Alice a fearful look. His lips were pulled apart and his eyes looked like dinner plates. Red bloodshot dinner plates.

"Killed you?" Alice's voice became more murderous. "YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Okay, okay, no need to use such language." Doug held up his hands to defend himself.

"Did you follow me?" Alice lowered her voice to a hiss. She wanted to go for his throat, but she knew that she would just go right through him. It was unfair that he was already dead, or she would have killed him herself.

"Follow you? What are you talking about?"

"You're supposed to be back in England!"

"England? Why would I be in England?"

"I don't know Doug, because that where I met you?" Alice was getting even more outraged. She was gesticulating more and accidentally hitting the steering wheel while doing so. Doug flinched back from the clearly upset woman sitting next to him.

"Are you telling me that I was in England this whole time?"

Alice gave him an exhausted look. Just when she thought her day was going perfectly, she just had to run into Doug. Of all the ghosts she's interacted with in her lifetime, Doug had to have been the most frustrating to work with.

"How could you not know you were in England?"

"I was trying to look for Zeek!" Doug tried to explain, thinking back to his dear friend.

"Doug, where is your friend Zeek supposed to be?"

"Texas." He was clear. Alice slapped her forehead so hard that when she removed her hand, there was a large red hand print left behind.

"How the bloody hell did you end up in England then?"

Doug's brows were brought down tight. He looked to be thinking really hard over the question.

"I don't know, I just thought that if I kept moving, I would find him…"

"Did you ever think to stop when you reached a fucking ocean?"

"I've been told that I have a horrible sense of direction." Was the only answer Doug could give her. Alice's voice went up a few octaves.

"You ended up on a different continent!"

Doug stuffed his head into his hands and started to groan with humiliation. "I can't believe this." He then abruptly pulled his focus back to Alice with wild eyes. "Where are we now?" He sounded desperate.

"Well, lucky for you, we are in Texas."

Alice had never seen Doug so relieved in his life. It looked as if his whole body exhaled all at once. A smiled came upon his face for only a matter of seconds, but was replaced with a frown when he noticed Alice was watching him. His unnecessarily cleared his throat.

"Well that's good news right? Now you can help me find him!"

"Oh hell no!"

"You promised!"

"You almost got me killed!"

"Okay, that wasn't entirely my fault. You shouldn't close your eyes when you scream."

Alice started to try and unbuckle her seatbelt. She ripped at the fabric to try and break herself free so she could go and attack him. Doug seeing her anger intensify, backed away.

"Wait! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!"

Alice quite her struggling and ran her hands through her hair. She bit the inside of her mouth as she tried to calm her nerves.

"Listen Doug," She had a good start, sounding a lot better than before. "We need to work out a deal here."

"I'll do anything." He was right on board. If it meant finding his friend, then he was going to do whatever she wanted.

"Alright, first, I don't want you to just appear out of nowhere. Give me a warning before you show up."

"How would I warn you?"

"I don't know, be creative." She waved it off. "Second, I don't want you to talk to me when there are people around."

"You already told me that rule."

"Yes and I get the feeling you the type of person who needs reminding of such rules."

"Touché,"

"Last, I will help you, but only my time when I am available. I'm not here to only help you Doug. I have my own work to do as well."

"I understand," Doug looked crestfallen. He played with his thumbs with his head drooped down. Alice didn't feel any sliver of guilt. He needed to hear her out and understand that she was in control.

"Good."

The silence left between them became awkward. The truck was quiet and there even weren't any birds outside. Scratching his arm, Doug gave Alice a sideways glance.

"So…now what?"

"Matt is going to kill me." Alice stared at the hood.

"Is Matt the one with goggles?"

"Not another word Doug." Alice signed harshly as she turned the key to turn on the ignition. She was thrilled to hear it come to life. Doug put his hand over his mouth. He figured he had already pushed his luck to many times with her. Alice's only concern was her broken dream. No longer did she have the right to gloat. She wasn't going to get her praise she had hoped for. Instead, she was probably going to hear it from Matt whom she had never seen angry before. He had to be tough to hang out with Mello, so Alice just prayed that she would be spared a long and painful death.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**Isshi Urahara, gothic mermaid, One Hell Of A Stalker, Shibo26, ****Yumeno**, **nekuranekomegami, ****Stormygio**, **VerityEldrich**, **alicelouise'x**, **Kasoday, ****arisa0, ****DarknessLeadsMe**, **MoonVX**, **Aeolian Mode**, **g-minor-art**, **XBloodMageRikaX, ****ColieColie, ****joana**, and **FlameSpear**. (Thank you all for your reviews! I've reached 400! YAY! I feel so special. I'm just so proud that my story has made you laugh. I'm addicted to humor, and as long as I can put a smile on all your faces, then I have done my job.)

** OhMyGeePinkSucksAss: **I know I might regret asking you this, but why would you ever think to yourself "Oh I should put a dead rat in this guys drink!"? That just doesn't seem normal to me...but hey, who am I to judge. It's not as if I have the right to consider what's normal.

**Foam Weber: **Did and done. No need for the applause. I would rather do it old school and make you kiss my ring like in the _godfather_. Oh, wait, I don't wear any rings...then never mind, just give me the next words. xD

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** Girl, I almost pulled out my hair. Next time you come up with some kick ass riddle, you better have the answer. Still, I have to give you your props, because that riddle sounded awesome. The answer to this new one is easy. It's day and night. daybreak, nightfall.

**HybridRebellion: **Psh, no it's not...Don't tell anyone! I wasn't here and you heard nothing!

**MikaUchiha666: **Really? I'm the only one? Sweet! The thought of your brother opening up a raccoon concerns me. The DS couldn't possibly be inside of a raccoon whole. The raccoon wouldn't have a big enough jaw to swallow one. It would have to chew it apart, and even then I'm sure the raccoon would have stopped because of the bad taste. Did you ever even find his DS? Oh and LOVE YOU TOO! (Not homo either).

**Tsume Yuki: **For my updates, I try not to go past two weeks. And I'm sure L meant well when he let her out on her own...he he...

**tenshi-no-akuma-81: **Alice is as pretty or unpretty as you imagine her. I'm not picky on the details. I know readers tend to imagine their own types of people as they read, so you can draw her any way you wish. I will love what ever you make! I already love you for the fact that you are drawing her! As for the romance mushy stuff, I understand where you are coming from and respect your input. I'll try my best, but I have to stay true to what my vision will become. Thank you so much!

**AraCookie: **I have complete confidence that you will translate the story to your best abilities. I'm here to help you along the way, so keep up the good work! Thank you!

**freaksforever: **EWWWWW! I HATE Spiders! I scream like a little girl every time I see one. I couldn't imagine one on my face. Especially one as big as a daddy long leg! I want cookies and cake! I bet L's favorite has something to do with strawberries. **  
**

** MyNameIsReallyLong: **Yeah, I tried to avoid slut. I figured if she was going to be a bombshell, she should at least have some dignity. I would also be honored to read your story. I love fantasy! I'm grateful that you would consider me to be an important person to review your own work. I'm very much an armature writer, so I'm not sure how much my opinion would matter, but I'm honored nevertheless. Thank you for your kind words!**  
**


	33. The Halloween Interlude Special

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**

***WARNING***

**This chapter has nothing to do with the actual main story. It was just a little fun chapter that I wanted to do for the holiday. So enjoy the extra special scary chapter. I hope it scares you and gives your Halloween that much needed thrill. **

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_**  
**

* * *

***The Halloween Interlude Special* **

"There comes a time every year when ghouls and monster come out to play. They dance and shriek to appease their hunger that will only last them one day. To make their night as frightful and scary as can be. They call upon Alice the great, the one, and only, me."

The children sitting in the playroom clapped and cheered as Alice took a bow. For the past hour or so she had been telling them stories of werewolf's and vampires; of zombies coming to life and trying to eat the brains of the living. Every horror story that was imaginable, Alice made sure to go into depth. She used colorful details of blood and slime. She made the monsters seem so real, as if they would jump out from behind her and attack the children. Some of the children were curled up into themselves, afraid that they would hear a headless horseman come galloping from outside, or a ghost would walk through the walls. She wanted to make their Halloween perfect, and she was proud of the work she had accomplished so far.

Recently she discovered that in the Wammy house, Halloween wasn't a big deal to the children. Every time she asked one of the children what they were going to dress up as, they answered her with a statement about the candy factories making up the holiday to sell more of their supplies. That it was just a gimmick to please the large companies. There was also something about a conspiracy of getting the children to eat more sweets so they would end up at the dentists. To them, that was the only factor about Halloween that frightened them. Alice couldn't believe what she had been hearing, and decided that she was going to get these children into the Halloween spirit.

It was almost time for the sun to hit the horizon, and Alice had only one story left to tell the children. The children looked up to her with wide eyes and waited patiently for her to speak again. Alice knew this was going to be the story that would give the kids their nightmares, so she had to make it perfect. Walking over to the lights, she turned them off and let the dim sun come through the windows. Only half of her body was lit up. The other half was covered in shadows. It was at that moment Mello and Matt quietly walked into the room and sat back in the corner. They didn't care for the holiday either, but they were intrigued with what Alice was doing. Alice ignored the two new guests and made herself look as tall as possible. The children who were sitting on the floor had to look up further.

"Alright children, this will be the last story of the night."

"Will it have Zombies?" Linda raised her hand. She was wearing a witch hat and black cloak.

"No, no zombies."

"Will there be werewolf's?" Tinker was next to ask. Tinker sported a wig of white short hair and beard with mustache to match. Covering his body was a brown robe with a hood, and in his hand was a magnifying glass. Apparently he was some man named Roger Bacon. Tinker had tried to explain to Alice that he was some inventor from the eleventh century, but Alice didn't pay to much attention. She would have rather seen him be a mad scientist or Frankenstein. Next to him sat Henchman, and he was also wearing a wig of white hair as all. They would almost be twins if Henchman's freckles weren't standing out. Henchman told her he was dressing up and Salvino D'Armate who was yet another inventor of the eleventh century. To look different from Tinker, Henchman had on a pair of glasses. They were round and unbelievably silly to look. She failed to get them to change into something more normal.

"No werewolf's either."

"Fairies?" Rebecca's quiet soft squeak came from the back. Somehow she had may her way over to Mello and got him to sit on the floor. She then somehow got onto his lap without getting thrown across the room. Alice would never understand how she could get away with such actions with Mello. If she ever tried any of that, Alice would probably be dead. What made the scene even better to take in was the fact that Rebecca was dressed up as a princess. She had on a tiara and pink frilly dress with beaded hearts and flowers. In her hand was a wand covered in sparkles. It was Rebecca the princess sitting down on Mello her Prince. If only Mello had made the effort to dress up. Instead he was in jeans and a plain shirt with a leather jacket. His boots went just below his knees. A true prince indeed.

"I'm sorry sweetie, no fairies." She stifled her laugh. Mello looked angry, but did nothing to remove Rebecca.

"What about…!" Another child tried to ask more, but Alice interrupted him before he could finish.

"Let me begin my story children before we lose the sun."

All the kids seemed to huddle together at once.

"It was dark and stormy night," She began, lowering her voice to a hush. "In an old house, much like the one we live in now, there lived an old man who was bitter towards the rest of the world. Every day he would yell at the paperboy, complain about his back, and swing his cane around like a weapon. He had no friends or family, and was mean to everybody he met. One night the old man left to run some errands. Three young children decided they were going to vandalize his home while he was away. They wanted to get back at him for stealing their baseball. So each of them threw toilet paper and eggs. The house was covered in minutes. Wanting to do more to his house, one of the children picked the lock to his front door. They entered his shadowy quiet home and giggled to each other, thinking that their plan was going perfectly. Just as the children were making their way further into the house, _SLAM!_ "

All the children jumped at Alice's emphasized onomonopia.

"The door was slammed shut behind them. One of the children had screamed, but the other two told him to quiet down. It must have just been the wind away. Moving on from the door, the children pulled out some spray cans so they could decorate the old man's couch. As they were shaking the cans, the sound of thumping suddenly came from upstairs. The children stopped shaking their cans and listened as the thumping moved from one side of the room to the other across the ceiling. The children started to lose their nerve and walk backwards toward the front door. The thumping moved to the stairs and that's when the children got a feeling of dread. They ran to the door and tried to get it to open. It had somehow locked itself after it had shut."

Alice noticed the children starting to shake even more. She couldn't help the smirk that came next.

"The thumping got louder, almost as if each step was getting more aggressive. Finally the children got the door unlocked and they ran out of the house as fast as their legs could take them. The next morning, the children had discovered in the news that the old man was found dead in his own home."

Some of the children gasped.

"He was bludgeoned in the head three times. The police were baffled about his death. No clues or witnesses could be found. Not even a murder weapon. The children would never admit to being at his home that night for fear of getting into trouble. To this day his death remains unsolved, and the legend says that the murder awaits in the next home to kill off his next victim. All you have to do is listen for is the thumping and you'll know. He's coming for you." Alice whispered the last part, looking up to see if she could hear anything. The children looked up with her and waited, some holding each others hands tightly. All of a sudden a loud bang walloped the ceiling above them and sent shivers down all the children's spines. They all screamed at once and then scattered about to reach the door. The rumbling of their feet shook the floor as they trampled their way out of the room. Tinker had lost his wig and Linda almost ripped her cloak. In the end, the only ones left in the room were a cackling Alice, an angry Mello, a more then amused Matt, and a little Rebecca who didn't seem to understand what was going on. Alice snorted with each laugh.

"Your story had to many holes in it." Mello interrupted her laugh. Alice wiped a tear away and snorted once last time.

"What are you talking about?"

"How could the case be unsolved when they had three witnesses to start with?"

"Huh?"

"The children you idiot. The police would know about the children being at the house from their finger prints being left behind. They would have had to testify what they had witnessed."

"But Alice did say the children got out before they saw anyone." Matt joined in the conversation.

"Well then what about the old man's wounds. If they couldn't distinguish a weapon from just the autopsy from his cracked skull, then they obviously had incredibly incompetent forensic anthropologists."

"I would agree with you on that, unless the old man's skull was smashed completely. Then that would make the search a lot more difficult."

"But going off of fracture patterns, they could have easily identified a weapon."

"Okay you two need to stop." Alice jumped in. "It was just a story, stop acting all detective-like."

"Next time tell a story that makes sense." Mello scoffed, lifting Rebecca off his lap. He needed to stand up. Rebecca didn't complain all that much, but instead grabbed hold of his hand. Matt lean away from the wall and finally gave Alice a once over to take in her costume. He had discovered that Halloween was one of Alice's favorite holidays, and she showed her enthusiasm through her costume. Starting from her shoes, Alice had on bright green flexible plastic boots with a four inch heel. They went all the way up to her knees. Next she wore fishnet tights that went under short shorts made of the same plastic green material. For her shirt, she had on a tube top with cut off long flied-out sleeves. It was in that same plastic material, only her top was purple instead of green. She had a headband on her head that was purple which pulled back her hair. If her outfit wasn't odd enough, Alice had done more to make it scary. Instead of just sticking to the plastic shorts and top, she went and added fake cuts and blood. She added dark circles around her eyes to make them look hollow. She also added on fake skin to make it look like a piece of her cheek was coming off. The rest of her skin had a hue of dark green tint to it. She looked absolutely ridiculous. Matt wasn't even sure what she was.

"Can I ask you something Alice?" He walked over to her and looked her up and down.

"Sure." She shrugged her bare shoulders.

"What are you suppose to be?"

Alice snorted proudly. "I'm a zombie, duh."

"What kind of Zombie has on plastic shorts?"

"A 50's Go-Go Dancer Zombie silly. I made sure to go with the older version to make it look less sluty."

"Oh yeah, that make sense." Matt nodded his head and smiled. Mello mumbled something about being an idiot, but Alice ignored the remark.

"So where are your costumes?" She eyed the boys with detest.

Matt pointed to Mello behind him and smirked. "Mello's scary enough. He doesn't need one."

"Shut the fu…!" Mello stopped himself from finishing that word. He squeezed Rebecca's hand and calmed his temper. "Well what's your excuse then Matt?" He decided to take the attention off himself. It was safer that way.

"Too much work." He ruffled his hair. Alice figured that was the case. Again he showed his true colors of being incredibly lazy. Alice was surprised he wasn't even playing his game at the moment. "So where did you hear all these stories?"

Alice crossed her arms and tried to come up with an answer that didn't involve any ghost friends she had talked to in the past. She had grown up with the dead, so it was the only source of entertainment she had to keep herself occupied while her parents traveled around the world. They would tell her stories of all types which included all the scary ones. Alice swallowed and looked outside at the suns decent.

"Uh…I watched a lot of TV when I was younger…"

Matt raised an eyebrow at her clear attempt to lie, but didn't push it any further. He believed that if Alice wanted to hide her real source, then he would much rather not know.

"Awice?" Rebecca's small stature swayed back and forth as she tightened her grip around Mello's hand. Alice put her hands on her knees and leaned forward.

"Yes honey?"

"Is that murderwer going to come kwill us?"

Alice blinked a few times to try and process what Rebecca just asked. "Uhh…" but before she could answer the little girl, the sound of thunder made the house rumble. Alice jumped as she turned to look out the window. The rain was light at first, but it didn't take long for a storm to start. The window was getting beat down by large droplets of water, shaking the glass as if it was going to break.

"That's odd." Matt scared Alice. "There were no signs of a storm before."

Alice kept her eyes on the window and watched the rain trailed down the glass. As she watched one of the drops fall at an angle, all of a sudden the lights flickered on and then off with the sound of a pop. The bulb had burned out, leaving the room back to it's darken state.

"What the?" Mello eyed the light above them. Alice started to feel her heart race. She laughed to calm her nerves.

"Must have been the thunder that caused that."

"Let's go check the circuit breaker and see." Matt started to walk out the room. Alice reached for Rebecca's hand and pulled her along. Mello was forced to move along with them since Rebecca wasn't about to let go of his hand. He grumbled as he was pulled out of the room.

* * *

Climbing down the steps to the basement made Alice's heart race even more. She held on to Rebecca's hand as if her life depended on it. It wasn't just the playroom that had burned out, but the rest of the house was shrouded in darkness. This meant that they had no light to see when they were going down the stairs. Alice had to rely on the wall next to her to feel her way down. She saw Rebecca in front of her, but Mello was a black blur. Matt was even further ahead, and Alice wasn't sure that he was with them anymore. It was so quiet. Her boots made the most sound, but only because of the boards under her feet that creaked. Her breathing was getting heavier too.

"Why does the breaker have to be in the basement?" She complained as she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. She didn't get an answer, but she did feel Rebecca's hand tighten around her own. That gave her some comfort.

_Knock, knock, knock…_

Alice jumped in her skin. "What was that?"

"Calm down." Mello grunted. "That was just Matt."

Alice gave a sigh of relief, thinking back to the room that housed L's large computer. That must have been the room they were going to.

"Come in," Alice heard the familiar voice of L muffled behind the door. When Matt opened the door, a bright light filled the hallway. Alice had to shield her eyes as they all made their way inside.

"Hey L, the lights went out in the house." Alice heard Matt speak first. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the light she noticed L crouching in his chair with a piece of cake in his hand. Behind him was his large computer which had thousands of photos displayed about.

"I am aware." He set his cake down on his desk. "Watari earlier came to look at the wiring and had discovered that there had been a hole chewed in one of them. It was an old cut, probably done by the rats that used to own the building."

Alice shivered at the thought of rats. She never did like the furry little devils.

"So it wasn't the murderwer?" Rebecca turned one of feet back and forth. L gave the small child and odd look.

"Murderer?" he stuck his thumb onto his bottom lip out of habit.

"Oh, I recently told her a story about a murder." Alice raised her hand to explain. That's when L looked at Alice and noticed her odd choice of costume. As much as her style choice of plastic and fishnets scared him, he did enjoy her creative attempt to make a Zombie unique. Only Alice could pull off the living dead and still look beautiful.

"I see you've gotten into the Halloween spirit."

"Thanks, you like?" Alice smiled brightly and put her hands onto her hips. L didn't respond to her, but instead turned around to grab a flashlight from one of the drawers.

"You're going to need this. It will be a while until the lights will be fixed." He handed the light to Matt.

"Why isn't your room in the dark?" Alice stared at his computer behind him. She didn't think it was fair that L got the entire backup lighting system while she was stuck with a flashlight and two boys who didn't even attempt to put on a costume. So far her Halloween wasn't turning out the way she wanted it too.

"Because my work is too important to lose." Was L's only answer. As Alice was about to make a snide remark, the sound of a loud crash came from upstairs above them. A few thumps followed the crash afterward and caused Rebecca to pull Alice and Mello closer to her body. Her and Mello looked down at Rebecca with worry and wonder.

"It's the murderwer!" she whispered shakily. Alice got down to her level and stoked her hair.

"That was just a story honey, he's not real."

"Let go find out." Matt sounded eager. Alice didn't appreciate the happy attitude. He was too lazy to put on a costume, but when it came to scary children, he seemed all too willing. Mello didn't question his friend's proposition. He just followed him out the room, pulling along a scared little girl and a grumpy Alice. L watched them leave with amusement. He wanted to follow them, but he had work to finish. So he let them go on their adventure while he turned back to his computer screen.

* * *

The room above L's was the dining room, and when Alice saw what had caused the crash, she felt herself relax. She should have known better then to think it was some killer. Matt on the other hand look disappointed. It was Lea and Liam picking up and chair that fell down earlier. They had been making a fort and needed the chair to drape the blanket over. The table was pushed into the corner, and over it was a large white sheet. A few other chairs were surrounding it, covered with even more colorful sheets and pillows. Alice thought it was genius.

"Wow!" she gasped at the sight. Lea smiled brightly.

"Do you like it?" She playfully laughed.

"I love it!"

"You two are making a mess." Mello grumbled loudly. Alice frowned.

"Well at least these two have the Halloween spirit." Alice pointed out their costumes. Lea was wearing a white trench coat with gold buttons. She had on black gloves and a stethoscope around her neck. Her brother was sporting the same outfit, only he decided he would look better with glasses. It was obvious that they were pretending to be doctors. Though they probably didn't have to pretend with all the medical knowledge they had studied over the years living in the house. They understood the human body more than any of the other children in the house.

"Do you want to play with us?" Liam asked Alice.

"Would I!" She got excited, but yet again Alice was interrupted by a thumping noise just above them on the second floor. It was slow at first from one end, but seemed to pick up speed as it crossed the floor. Alice started to sweat as she followed the noise with her eyes. Her heart was back to beating again fiercely. Rebecca didn't have to say anything because Alice beat her too it.

"It's the murderer!" She whispered harshly. Mello slapped his forehead and groaned.

"Let's go!" Matt got excited again. Alice was starting to not like the new motivated Matt.

* * *

The little group climbed that stairs at a snail's space speed. They listened to the thumbing as it continued back and forth over and over again. Alice wasn't sure if it was her hand that was shaking or Rebecca's, but either way she was getting scared. Each step up made a loud creaking noise, making the old house groan under her weight. Goosebumps formed on her shoulders and arms. It was getting colder since the heater had been shut down in the black out. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark pretty well, but she still wished the lights would get fixed soon.

When they reached the top of the stairs, they notice down the hall that one of the doors was ajar. It was the playroom they had been in earlier, and the thumping got louder. Matt stopped and looked back at Alice.

"You go first."

"You're out of your mind." Was Alice's initial reaction. She gave him a look that screamed _no-way-in-hell_.

"The killer isn't real right? So what do you have to be afraid of?" Matt was having fun. Alice saw the smile across his face like the Cheshire cat's in _Alice in Wonderland_. She pursued her lips together tightly and sadly let go of Rebecca's hand. She couldn't let Matt get away with that stupid smile, so she took in a deep breath and headed down the hall first. She made sure to feel the wall along the way to support herself. She was afraid that she was going to faint, so she wanted a strong support to hold her up. Matt's flashlight lit the way down the hall, but it did nothing to calm her nerves. Alice took each step slowly, inching her way down the hall. When she got closer to the room, the thumping had stopped abruptly. Alice held her breath and reached for the knob. She noticed her hand was shaking. She quietly kept repeating to herself that there was no such thing as the old man murderer. Enclosing her hands around the cold metal, she cracked the door open slowly. She couldn't see inside the room, so she stuck her head inside first. A gust of wind whooshed past her to her right and caused a loud _thwaping _sound against the wall next to her. It sounded as if something was thrown at her face and missed. It was the sound of hallow rubber smacking against a wall. It rang in her ears and caused her to scream and jump all at once. When she turned to run away, she ran right into Matt who was behind her. She almost fell to the ground, but Matt caught her before she could. Her muscles felt stiff and painful as she tried to steady herself.

"I was attacked!" She had a shrill voice. It cracked and chirped all at once. Matt patted her shoulders and moved ahead of her too see what had happened. He pushed the door open and shined the flashed light inside the room. There sitting on the floor on the other side of the room was Linda and Charlie huddled together looking frightened.

"It's safe Alice," Matt called out to her, flashing the light over to the wall where the sound came from. Sitting on the ground was a red ball about as large as a child's head. He smirked when he saw Alice come into the room cautiously.

"Are you sure?"

"Seems the attack was out of defense." He pointed to the ball. Alice gave the ball a glare. Rebecca and Mello came in next. Mello looked annoyed and board all at once. He was growing tired of the little adventure and Rebecca's constant need to hold her.

"Alice?" Linda's squeaking voice got her attention. Alice found the children and ran over to them quickly.

"Are you alright?" She touched Charlie's cheek and Linda's shoulder.

"We just saw a man walk by the room." Charlie whimpered.

"A man?" Alice caught her breath.

"Were sorry if we scared you, but we thought you were the man coming back to kill us." Linda explained the rest. Alice understood the children were scared, and only threw the ball at her to protect themselves. She put on a brave face and sucked up her fear.

"Don't worry. We'll find this man and take care of him." She forced a smile. It must have worked since Linda and Charlie smiled along with her.

_Thump…thump….thump…thump…_

All of them looked up at the ceiling as the sound moved across the room. It was slow and steady, almost as if the movement was sluggish. Linda and Charlie hugged each other more tightly. They whimpered and shook. Alice stood up slowly as she kept her eyes on the ceiling.

"Not again…" She whined, fluttering her eyes closed. Matt didn't have to say anything more, because he was already out the room. Mello growled under his breath and swooped up Rebecca into his arms. He wanted to move quickly and she was slowing him down. He was following Matt soon after, leaving Alice to herself. Alice gave the two children one last comforting wave and ran out the room to follow the boys.

The trip to the third floor went a lot fast that time since Matt was practically running. Mello didn't have to walk slowly anymore since he had Rebecca in his arms. Alice was getting winded just trying to keep up. When they reach the third floor, Alice was gasping for air. The adrenalin was just making her tired. Matt cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted down the dark quiet hall.

"Hey killer, you there?"

Alice slapped him on his shoulder and told him to shut up. Matt chuckled at her attempt to hurt him. The slow thumping started up again, and they could tell that it was coming from the room at the very end of the hall. It was the room that Alice had previously helped L in with all the flowers. She shivered when she remember the large one that smelled like rotten meat.

Matt went first like always, this time letting Alice stay behind him. She wasn't about to go first again. She learned her lesson. Mello tag along grouchily. He would have much rather been eating his secret stash of chocolate then to following those two idiots. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to let go of Rebecca. She had a good hold on him already, so it wasn't as if he could just drop her there on the floor and leave. Sighing heavily he followed the two down the end of the hall and listen to the thumping grow quieter. When they reach the closed door, Matt looked about ready to knock on the door. Alice grabbed his hand before he could.

"Are you crazy? What if the killer is in there?"

Matt raised an eyebrow and smirked. That smile was really irritating Alice now.

"Listen you damn Cheshire cat! You get us all killed and I will make sure to hunt you down in hell!"

"I'll be waiting for you with open arms." He laughed.

"Can we just get this over with? It's getting late." Mello groaned loudly.

"Shut it _White Rabbit_!" Alice pointed an angry finger at Mello. Mello glared back with just as much hate. All of a sudden the door in front of them then swung open, causing Matt and Alice to jump back and run into Mello. Alice screamed again, causing her lungs to burn with a painful sting. She needed to stop screaming or she was going to lose her voice.

"Oh dear!" A warm and unexpected tone caused Alice to stop screaming. "Are you children alright?" Watari stood in front of the doorway looking surprised. Alice never felt so happy to see the old man.

"Oh thank the lord!" She slid onto her knees. She was getting weak just having to stand up.

"What are you doing in there Watari?" Matt exhaled loudly. His heart had stopped momentarily, but he recovered quickly.

"I was following the wire system to see if there were any more cuts."

"Do you know when the power will be back on?" Alice tried to sound hopeful, but she couldn't help the feeling that they would be in the dark for the rest of their lives.

"I'm going as fast as I can Miss Alice."

_Thump…Thump…_

"Oh god!" Alice looked up. It was light and hard to hear, but she and the others heard it clearly. There was only one last level, and that was to the attic. Nobody should have been in the attic, which meant that Alice was officially going to faint. She felt her body already start to go numb. The house had gotten so cold that she was seeing her breath. Just once the thunder boomed and lightning filled up the room behind Watari. The one flash of light illuminated a part of the room that made Matt point and gawk.

"Why are the attic stairs pulled down?" He questioned. Watari looked behind in with even more surprise.

"I don't remember them being down before?"

Alice felt her heart jump out of her chest.

"Were going to die." She felt her throat clench up.

"Calm down Alice, were not going to die." Mello rolled his eyes. Alice turned to give him a glare, but she gasped when she saw that Rebecca was no longer in his arms.

"Mello, where's Rebecca?"

Mello gave her snort as if to tell her that she was an idiot. He was holding her of course. But when he looked into his arms, they were empty. He jumped back and looked around his feet, afraid that he might have dropped her without knowing. He hadn't even noticed the weight gone from his arms. He cursed at himself for being so oblivious to her disappearance.

"Where did she go!" He growled angrily. Alice looked back at the newly folded down attic stairs and groaned. Once again Rebecca proved herself worthy of being the porcelain ninja. She managed to free herself from Mello and run undetected behind Watari to get to the attic. Alice wasn't even sure how she had managed to pull the stairs down, but if there was one thing about Rebecca that made her cunning, it was her ability to pull off stunts that made her almost seem magical. Instead of a princess, she should have been a witch for Halloween.

"The attic." Alice got up quickly and ran over to the latter stairs. She looked up and stopped herself from moving any further. It was pitch black up there. She couldn't see a thing and the thumping had stopped. It was eerily quiet.

"What's wrong Alice?" Matt walked up behind her and looked up.

"It's dark."

Mello pushed Matt out of the way and was about to move Alice as well.

"Get out of the way and I'll go get her."

Alice stopped him and shook her head. "No, I have to do this." She sounded brave. She was proud of herself for faking it so well.

"Well then get your ass moving!" He was growing frustrated. He was mostly angry at himself for letting her get away. Alice ignored his rude attitude and put one foot on the step. Slowly but surely, she was climbing up. She kept her mind away from the idea of a killer and only thought about Rebecca being up there. Alice felt a ray of hope when she heard a giggle. It was clearly Rebecca.

"Rebecca honey, you shouldn't have run off like that. You made us worry." Alice said, reaching the top. Her upper body was in the attic, but she couldn't see a thing. She was blind, not even able to see her own hand in front of her. She waited for Rebecca to respond, but there was nobody. Taking in a deep breath, she laughed shakily.

"Rebecca?" She climbed into the room. She didn't know how high the ceilings were, so she crawled on all fours. A light giggle came from the back corner of the room.

"Rebecca, is that you?" Alice thought she was losing conscious. She felt faint and her heart was going a mile minute. The worst possible outcome for Alice would be finding a ghost. She really didn't want to find somebody living in the attic. She prayed that it was just Rebecca giggling in the corner. Crawling forward, Alice decided she had to get closer to make out the figure that was becoming easier to see. It was short, to about Rebecca's high, so that was a good sign. When Alice moved her arm forward, she bumped into something that felt papery. Alice didn't have time to back away before the paper started to attack her. Piles of tiny card like squares piled on top of her. They covered her arms and legs as if they were deliberately going for her limbs. She screamed, cracking her voice. She was defiantly losing it. The noise sounded like cards hitting wood repeatedly. Alice had to shield her face from the attack.

Matt and Mello raced to get up the latter. When they popped their heads inside of the attic, the sound of a gas lamp was lit up. They shielded their eyes from the blinding light. When their vision was cleared they surprising saw Near sitting in the corner of the room with Rebecca right next to him. She was chewing on one of the cards and Near was hold the light up to see what had caused his tower to be knocked over. The rest of the attic was covered in a sea of cards. Whatever Near had build, it must have been large enough to make such a mess. Right in the middle of the mess laid Alice, covered in head to toe with cards.

Alice's head snapped up from her card grave and made some of the cards around her fly. She looked over to the corner where she had seen Rebecca and gasped when she saw Near was with her.

"Near?" She sounded horse.

"Good evening Alice." He replied, looking a little upset over his collapsed tower.

"Looks like there wasn't any killer." Matt leaned his head onto one of his hands while his elbow rested on the floor.

"Killer?" Near was confused.

"What are you doing up here?" Mello snarled, climbing up the rest of the way. The ceiling was high enough for him to stand up, and it took him no time to reach Rebecca.

"I came up here to build in peace and quiet. The Play room was already being used." He answered Mello as he watched him grab the card from Rebecca. Rebecca giggled some more. She pointed behind Mello and clapped.

"Alwice is disintegrating!" She laughed loudly. Mello looked behind him and found Alice dissolving away. She looked defeated. Slowly her body broke apart into tiny dust particles and blew away into the air. Alice had never been so tired in her life. The night had been endless. She never wanted to hear the sound of thumping again. Next Halloween, Alice was going to stick with the frilly cute kid stories. Never again was she going to talk about blood or slime. She was going to avoid vampires and werewolf's and everything in-between.

She had chosen the perfect costume that year, because by the end of the day, she was dead. Killed by her own imagination and a few heart attacks.


	34. A Murder revealed, & Alice Pushed Aside

Hello!

Welcome to chapter 33 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Now I know this may seem redundant to you all,

but there is now a third translation! Of the romantic sorts of course!

I wonder if I've made a new record for have the most translations for a story?

The new translation is written in Portuguese. The translator is the lovely_ Yessely._

It's a work of art my readers, so go check it out. the link will be on my profile!

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.)_

* * *

**A Murder revealed, & Alice Pushed Aside  
**

Matt typed furiously on his laptop, checking all the codes and calculations for his homemade programs. It was his third time reviewing the material, but he felt it necessary to do so just in case his missed anything. If there was any mistake in his program, then the possibilities of problems were endless. For one, the amount of electricity being used in the supposedly abandon house would look suspicious, had Matt not come up with an ingenious plan to cover up their electrical location.

Mello was downstairs with L and Watari, going over planned operations in which would help gain more evidence over the trafficked drug operation. Near was with Matt in the room looking out the window. He was curling his hair with one of his fingers and his expression left nothing for Matt to decipher. He was a neutral as the day he had met him. The only moment Matt knew Near had something to say was when he stopped twirling his hair.

"She's returned." Near pointed out the window. Taking it as an opportunity for a break, Matt strolled over to the window to see Alice pull up the driveway. What he wasn't expecting to see was the large triangle dent on the hood of his precious Chevy. The color drained from his face. He ran out the room so fast Near didn't even get a chance to watch him leave. Instead, he kept his eyes on Alice as she park the mangled truck next to the SUV.

Matt ran past Mello, L, and Watari in the living room as they were all huddled around a large poster board with a collage of pictures taken of a factory and individual people. The board was set up so they could all see the photos. But when Matt rushed past them, their interest in the poster board faded away. They watched Matt slam open the front and screen door. Watari cringed at the sound a wood cracking under the force of the slam. He was not happy about the idea of having to fix that later.

Matt didn't waste a second to reach Alice as she was getting out of the Truck.

"What happened to my truck?" He sounded a lot more stressed out then he wanted. He tried to keep himself calm, but the closer he got to the banged up hood, the more he felt like exploding. Alice looked paralyzed when he showed up in front of her. She shut the door and eyed the damage wearily. Matt noticed that she was trying to stall so she could come up with an excuse. By playing with the bottom of her shirt, Matt knew all too well what a guilty face looked like. "Ace." He got his voice to become softer. He was proud of himself for doing so since it got Alice to talk.

"I'm _really_ sorry," she began, emphasizing the "really" to show that she meant it. "A deer just came out of nowhere and I made the mistake of trying to avoid it by driving into a ditch."

Matt deflated all the anger that had built up inside of him. Seeing the stress in her eyes made it clear that she was upset with herself. That was all he needed to forgive her. Instead he focused on the more important issue that Alice brought up.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" He grabbed her face gently and turned it back and forth. He didn't see any bruises are scratches, but that didn't mean there wasn't something wrong. Alice flinched when he touched her cheeks. She thought he was going to attack her, but to her surprise, he was gentle and kind. He was even worried about her safety rather than the obvious beat up truck behind her. Alice was speechless. She tried to answer him, but only a squeak came from her lips. She notice Matt didn't like that answer, so she shook her head instead. That gave Matt the answer he wanted and he dropped his hands to his side.

"Are you sure?" He wanted to clarify.

"Wooh! Nice dent." Mello stepped outside with Watari and L right behind him. Alice felt herself shrink even more. L looked back and forth between the truck and Alice. He did not like the scenario that was playing through his head. Without even thinking about his actions, he shuffled over to Alice and Matt to assess the damage. Mainly the damage that Alice might of suffered. But keeping his cool, he kept his tone at level that would indicate he wasn't nearly as affect by the sight as he really was. He was still getting used to the feelings he had, but he found himself learning quickly when to control them.

"Is everything alright?"

Matt glanced over at L and then back at Alice to see what she would say. He was curious if her answer would change.

"Everything is fine." She held up her hands to prove that they still worked. "I just got into a little accident is all." She waved it off as if it was nothing. The scene reminded L of when she torched Roger's roses. The situation had become dangerous, but Alice made it sound as if everything was peachy keen. Only Alice could make a dangerous situation sound as if they were merely having a cup of tea.

"Is that so?" L looked back at the dent in the truck. A little accident wouldn't have made the hood bend together like a hair scrunchy.

"Come on Ace," Matt grabbed her arm. "You can tell us about the accident inside." He started to drag her toward the house. Alice stumbled at first, but allowed him to pull her anyway. She was just thankful he wasn't using such force to rip her arm off. L watched the scene with a bit of mixed feelings. He didn't particularly like Matt dragging her away, but at the same time he appreciated Matt for forcing her to go inside and relax.

As Matt and Alice past Mello to get inside, Mello snickered. "This ought to be a good story."

"I'll go fetch something for you to eat." Watari made an effort to help. Alice appreciated the gesture and welcomed the idea of food. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until Watari suggested it.

"Thank you Watari." She smiled gratefully as she was forced to sit on the couch. She was surprised how soft it was. She thought that since the couch was an antique, then it was supposed to feel like one. But the cushions sunk just enough to keep her sitting straight and still feel like a cloud. Once sitting down, Alice then noticed the poster board behind Matt. The collage of pictures made her eyes spin. Luckily L interrupted her dizzy spell.

"Ace, I would like you to start from the beginning."

Alice did just as she was told and started from the moment she left the driveway. She told them about the short drive to town, avoiding the subject of Jim. She of course didn't want to tell them she met a ghost on the side of the road, but she really didn't want to admit that she got lost and needed help. When she got to part where she first entered the town, she was hesitant to tell them about Eric. But L had said that it was okay for her to meet the locals, so she told them about Eric's appreciation towards the Chevy. Matt seemed to like that part of the story. He smiled smugly, nodding his head to agree with Eric in the story. L on the other hand frowned at the mention of this teenager. When Alice had described what he looked like, she was using words such as "cute smile" or "charming southern personality". He made sure not to show his annoyance though. He had nothing to worry about anyway since he was confident that he was much more intelligent than this Eric. By means of wealth and power, L beat him tenfold.

When Alice started to go over the cities layout, that's when they all started to pay attention more closely. They had an obligation to understand their surroundings well enough to know what to expect when they were out of the house. Alice was thorough with the details, making sure to explain all the stores, restaurants, and other treasures to be found in the small town. Not only had she met Eric, but she was introduced to a lot of the owners of the stores and restaurants as well. Her mood picked up when she talked about the people. It was obvious that Alice enjoyed the social aspect of her assignment. Just as long as she didn't ever use her real name, L was more than okay with her talking to the locals. Riding around with one was a different story, but L kept that to himself.

After Alice finished with the town, L was pleased to hear Alice leaving behind Eric. Alice did not mention to any of the boys that she had his number. She didn't want to get into anymore trouble then she already was with the truck. Matt may have let her off the hook, but she got the feeling he was going to use the truck later to hold it against her. He never said the words exactly, but underneath it all she did owe him big time.

When she got to the scene about her little accident, again she avoided her ghost friend Doug. She replaced him with a deer instead since that sounded more normal. When she told the boys about the deer, she glanced at L to see if he believed her. L didn't give her any reaction towards her lie, so she took that as a good sign. The little glance didn't go unnoticed however by Matt. He looked between the two and arched an eyebrow. The same theory kept popping up in his head, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't have enough proof yet to prove anything.

That's when Alice finished her story, ending with yet another apology towards Matt who waved her off.

"No more apologies. I can fix the truck. As long as you're not broken, that's all that matters."

Alice smiled warmly at Matt, her heart doing a leap for joy. This was exactly the kind of family she always wanted; so forgiving and happy to see her alive. If her parents ever discovered she was in a crash, they would be scolding her for ruining their precious expensive car. Even if she ended up in a coma, she wouldn't be surprised if her parents grounded her for five years. That's how long the coma would last anyway, so it would make since to them.

"Alright, enough with the mushy crap, we have a case to work on." Mello brought Alice back to reality.

"Charming as always Mello." Matt stretched. Mello snorted in return.

"Miss Ace, your dinner is in the kitchen." Watari appeared next to her. Alice shot up faster than a jack-in-the-box.

"Food!" She cheered. She was out of the room in seconds.

* * *

Nightfall fell upon the barn. Crickets came out of their hiding and started to play their music. The wind was strong that night, shaking the very foundation. It was the noisiest night Alice had ever been through. She tried to ignore it all, but playing cards with Watari wasn't helping. She kept on losing to the old man, and that only made her more frustrated.

"Come on Watari, you're killing me." She dropped her cards on the table. Her hand only had one double, while Watari showed an impressive royal flush. It was his third one and Alice was starting to think he was cheating.

"You seem perfectly healthy to me." He smiled proudly. Alice grumbled and gathered the cards. She was determined to win one game before she went to sleep.

Upstairs in his room was L sitting at his desk with his computer in front of him. Near was on the floor behind him stacking some domino's that he had thankfully brought with him in his luggage. Without the small distraction, Near would probably lose it. The domino's gave his hands something to do and it made it easier for him to concentrate.

"Near."

Near glanced up at L from his fort that he was making. Without turning around, L held out a piece of paper for Near to take. Near grabbed the parchment from L and looked at its context.

"I would like you to locate that man's whereabouts." His order was simple. Near nodded his head once and stood up. The picture in the corner of the page was of an African American man with a tattoo of a teardrop next to his eye. Other than that, there was nothing else distinguishable about him. Near had nothing to worry about. He was confidant with his ability to find the man. Leaving the room, Near went straight to work.

That's when L took the opportunity to call Watari. The phone rang only once before he heard Watari's greeting.

"Good evening L."

"Please send Alice up." L kept his voice quiet. The walls were thin, so he had to lower his voice. He didn't want the boys in the other room to hear him. Watari did as he was told, letting L hear him tell Alice to go see L. L overheard her in the background say something about cheating in some poker game, but he hung up before he could hear anymore. L needed the time alone with Alice to discuss the case. At least that's what his main excuse was. He didn't mind just being together with her too.

Hearing her stomping up the stairs, L quickly closed his laptop to hide any of the information. He wanted no contamination in the experiment. When she entered the room, she made sure to sigh dramatically to show that she was upset. It was obvious that she wanted L to ask her what was wrong. L gave in to her little act, knowing that if he didn't, she would just continue her show.

"Something bothering you?"

"Watari is a cheater." She was blunt.

"He would do no such thing, unless it was necessary."

Alice bit the inside of her cheek and crossed her arms. "You wanted to see me?" she changed the subject, knowing L was always going to take Watari's side.

"Yes," L was pleased to see her motivated. "The photo you looked at in the car. I would like to go over your findings."

Alice jumped onto the bed and crossed her legs. She was hoping she would talk about the photo soon. The impressions she got from it had been haunting her for a while now. She didn't like the man's eyes when she looked at them, and the feeling she got made it only worse.

"I don't like him." She made herself clear.

"What don't you like about him?"

"He has these eyes. They look like two pits of tar. He looks like somebody who's killed before." She shivered.

"Has he killed someone?"

Alice kept her eyes on her feet. She tried to swallow but her throat felt dry. Her hands felt clammy at the thought of what she sensed when she saw he photo.

"He has." It hurt her throat to say.

L would have been impressed with her, but he knew he couldn't take such general information so lightly. Alice could have very well known that the tattoo of the teardrop meant the man had killed before. It was a common trait for gang members to have. But he kept that information to himself.

"Did you find anything about the murder specifically?" He encouraged her to keep going. Alice closed her eyes. She looked content on the bed, just sitting there almost as if she was meditating. L could not see her heart racing or her sweat on her forehead. She didn't like thinking back to that moment. It left her anxious and frazzled.

"He…" She started to pull on her thumb, rubbing it back and forth. If she kept doing it for too long she would probably make her skin raw. "He…used his hands. He…" She tried to think of how to describe it. The words were in her mouth, but she couldn't seem to say them.

"Did he have a weapon?" L pushed her some more. He needed her to talk fast. He knew he had limited amount of time with her before somebody would interrupt them. He only hope it would be Watari first, and not one of the boys. Alice laughed at his question. She didn't mean to, and she certainly didn't like the kind of laugh it was.

"He didn't need one." She was sure of that answer. L placed his thumb onto his bottom lip. His eyes bore onto Alice, unable to look away. She wouldn't look at him, but he allowed her to focus on her feet. As long as it got her to concentrate, he didn't mind.

"So then what do you mean by _he used his hands_?"

Alice's thumb was starting to hurt. She was pulling on it harder and it almost felt like it was going to pop off her hand.

"He…" She found it hard to say once more. "he…choked…" She finally let go of her thumb. Instead, she used both her hands to grip her neck.

"He choked his victim?" L finished for her. He could tell that she was struggling with the word. Almost as if there was an unknown force keeping her from speaking, such as the man himself was choking her. He shook off the awful feeling and stuck to his logic. No such possibility could ever hurt Alice.

"Yes," she finally looked at L in the eye. L liked that answer more than the last. He wanted to drive the conversation further in hopes she had more information to give him.

"What about the victim. Do you know who this man killed?"

"Yes." Alice unconsciously said out loud. L was set back by how confident she sounded. It got him excited to hear her come up with such crucial information. But Alice shook her head and burrowed her brows together in frustration.

"I mean no." She licked her dry lips. L's excitement dropped. Alice ran a hand through her hair and grumbled. She seemed to have mixed feelings over the question. "I don't know." She said to herself, looking angry. L hated those three words, so he changed the topic quickly to stray away from Alice setback. He was on a roll before and he didn't want to lose the momentum.

"Let's move on to the man's location."

Alice felt a spark light up inside of her.

"He's hiding!" She said with more emphasis then she needed to.

"Oh?"

"Yes, he doesn't want to be found. Hes…" Alice paused for a moment to think over her words more carefully. "Hes…not himself. His name is not his."

"A false identity?"

"Yes." Alice pointed to L with a smile.

"Interesting." L was getting more intrigued. "Do you know the alliance he's using?"

"Yes," Alice did it again unconsciously. She shook her head again roughly and started to rub her thumb. "Wait, no."

L knew he needed to move on again before she repeated those words to him. "Did you find anything else about the photo?"

Alice as thankful for the transition. Being more gentle with her thumb, she said, "Yeah, he's angry."

L was hesitant to ask, not sure an emotion so common such as anger would help the case.

"Angry?"

"Yeah, he's _really_ angry. He…" Alice looked to the wall next to her. "He…lost an opportunity."

"What opportunity?"

"I…" Alice ran both her hands through her hair. L hoped with all his might she wouldn't say what he thought she was going to say, but his hopes here crushed quickly. "I don't know."

He frowned at the remark. Alice noticed this, and frowned with him. "Sorry…"

"No need to be sorry. Was that everything?"

Alice nodded her head slowly and watched L open his laptop. She kept quiet as he turned on his computer, letting the sounds of beeping and ticking fill the room. He typed in some odd numbers and letters and came to a screen full of odd pictures and text. Pressing one key, L brought the photo Alice had examined before in the car. Her body hardened at the site of his cold dark eyes. A static feeling filled the room leaving Goosebumps all up and down her arms. She didn't like the ominous feeling. She wanted that photo to burn. To never been seen by anybody ever again. She didn't want the man to exist.

"Excuse me."

Alice and L turned to the door where they heard Near speak. He was a surprise to both of them, but mostly to Alice. She curled up closer to her knees and waited to see what Near wanted. Alice was not prepared to hear what came next.

"Joseph is in our custody."

* * *

Alice sat alone in the dim light of the kitchen. The candle flickered back and forth as if it was indecisive on which way it wanted to go. She was looking through the deck of cards to see if anything of them looked odd. She wanted see for herself that Watari wasn't using magic cards to win at poker. But every time she passed to the next card, her mind would drift off in thought over that mans' face. Joseph was that man's name, and what Near had said up in the room rattled her. She wanted to know more about the man, but she was kicked out of the room. She swore under her breath, but obeyed L. She had least owed him her loyalty.

That man's eyes were bothering her though. She couldn't get them out of her head. But now that she knew he was locked up, she at least felt more at ease with herself. However, that didn't stop the unnerving gut feeling that something was wrong. That the man was going to come after her next. Her whole spine shivered from the bite of a cold chill. It nipped her toes and escaped through her breath. She wished the candle was bigger to give off more heat, but she only had her jacket to rely on to keep her warm.

Being by herself only made her more paranoid. For a moment there, she almost thought she heard somebody shift around in Watari's room. But Watari couldn't possibly be in his room since he was with L and Near. Looking behind her at the door, Alice waited in the quiet to see if she could hear anything more. For a full minute the only sound that filled the room was her own shaky breaths. She eyed the door wearily, feeling light in her head. Every creak or moan from above made her flinch, but she kept telling herself that it was the boys moving around.

Why had they kicked her out in the first place? She was just as much a part of the case as they were.

…Or was she?

Alice had to rethink all the information she was shown about the case before she was flown to America. Sure she had not listened to most of what she was told, but she never did recall what the objective was. She knew about a drug dealing business and some man named Joseph who choked someone to death. But she wasn't even sure if Joseph was a part of the drug dealing business in the first place. So she was in the dark, literally and figuratively about why she was even in America in the first place. Was she really helping?

Alice sucked in her breath violently when she heard footsteps from behind her. Her eyes scanned the dark, but the only part of the room she couldn't see was Watari's. His door was closed, but that didn't stop the noise from reaching her ears. It was soft and light, following to the rhythm of the clock ticking in the living room. Whoever was in that room, he was sure trying to make himself unknown. Alice felt the hair on her neck rise. She only hoped it was Doug messing with her. Otherwise it wasn't going to be the last time she screamed that day.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**CaribbeanTrinidadian, One Hell Of A Stalker, Yumeno, MikaUchiha666, Tsume Yuki, HybridRebellion, ****Dreamer of the Knight, ****narutolover1598, ****arisa0, ****VerityEldrich, ****animelover56348, ****XBloodMageRikaX, ****Leader of the Nargles**, **and tenshi-no-akuma-81. **

**OhMyGeePinkSucksAss: **Finding a dead mouse in a shoe, not okay (Shivers). As for the revenge, I understand completely. If I had the spine to do something like that, then I totally would. =)

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** Oh this is a hard one. Hmmm...some kind of plant maybe? Though I'm not sure what plant can get up and walk...I give up, what is it?**  
**

** The Mourning Dragon:** I'm so happy that I was able to brighten up your day! xD

**MoonVX: **Back in chapter 7 in the heading I talked about not ever going into the actual _Death Note_ story line. So I'm sorry, but Light never finds the book. But I do have my own story planned out and I hope you continue to read it! Thank you so far for reading my amateur fan-fiction!

**IMPORTANT:** I am aware of the other translations, so please do not worry. Thank you for telling me. I'm glad to see you were looking out for me!

**g-minor-art:** Yay for stalkers on Halloween. I bet that made the night a little more intense. And you're never too old to trick or treat. What were you for Halloween that require you to take a year to make?

**Nikki:** Oh I understood what you were talking about. And I could see how that would make sense since Rebecca is so young. And who knows, maybe she might have the ability. Just keep reading to find out. =D

******alicelouise'x**: Well Mello is 17 and Rebecca is 4, so I don't think it will ever work out with them. But I make sure to keep their relationship extra cute to make up for it!

**freaksforever:** It's not wrong for you to view him as a black guy since he is one. No racism there. I remember the Odessey! Oh how fun Homer's tales of giants and Syrians turns out to be.

** MyNameIsReallyLong:** You could E-mail me the story if you like? I think my e-mail is on my profile. If not, then here it is: _Wistful__. Just make sure to spesify in the subject who you are so I don't think you're spam. =D

**KiyUzumaki: **I'm your first? OMG thank you! I feel sooo special right now. I'm so happy to hear that you like my story. Now I'm even more fired up to keep writing! Thank you!


	35. More Question's then Answers

Welcome all old and new readers!

This is Chapter 34 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

This is the point of my story where things are going to get a little more intense.

I promise I wont drop the humor, but there will be more emotion.

Also, sorry about the delay. I had an Epic holiday that kept me away from my computer.

I hope those of you that celebrated _Thanksgiving_ enjoyed their turkey and other goodies!

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. At least not in the real world. In my imagination, I am king!)_

* * *

**More Question's then Answers**

Alice could not get her hand to stop shaking. She grabbed hold of it to see if her own strength could get it to stop. It was pointless. Her other hand was shaking just as much, so all it did was make it worse. She let go of her hand and wiggle her fingers. They were frozen, and she wanted to get some blood flowing in them. That's when she gripped the door handle once more and took in a deep breath. She had been hearing noises inside Watari's room and she was absolutely sure it wasn't Watari in there. He was with Near and L upstairs, most likely talking about Joseph. Alice would have much rather been with them upstairs talking about the murderer, rather than being stuck downstairs hearing noises. They were light footsteps tapping around the room. The only way for Alice to know what was in the room was to look inside. Her brain was telling her to run away and get the boys, but her stubborn heart told her the boys would be of no use if it was a ghost. It was sad to think about, but in the room was most likely a spirit. It couldn't have been an animal since Matt secured the house so tightly not even a fly could get inside. So with once last deep breath to try and calm her nerves, she turned the handle slowly. She wanted to make as little noise as possible. She didn't want to scare away the spirit. She would rather confront it now, rather than in her sleep or in front of any of the boys.

When Alice heard the click of the handle signaling that it was free to pull open, she hesitated. Her thoughts were jumbled with possibilities of mask murderers or angry widows. Of children crying for their families or mothers crying for their children. It was an endless possibility for what could be in the room. Alice had dealt with so many in her life, she was more than prepared. She just hoped that it was a spirit who would cooperate with her. Pulling the door forward, she cringed at the sound of the loud creaks. The house was old, so of course it was going to sound its age. Peering through the crack, she tried to get a first glimpse without having to go inside. She was disappointed to see that the room was dark. She couldn't make out much other than the silhouettes of some of the furniture. The large dresser off the right, the full sized mirror in the back corner, and even a chest below the window that was covered with thick curtains. The moon had no access to the room other than its subtle glow. She couldn't see much of the left side of the room since the door was blocking it. She assumed that's where was bed was going to be.

Licking her dry lips, Alice made more of an effort to try and listen for the footsteps. Ever since she had opened the door they had stopped. She was afraid that she might have scared them away. Building up her confidence, Alice managed to pull the door open the rest of the way. Finally able to see the left side of the room, Alice was not surprised to see the bed she assumed was there. She was disappointing however when she discovered the room was empty. She walked inside and looked to her left to find a tall lamp. She pulled down on a chain and watched as the room lit up in a goldish yellow. The room was just as plain as the others upstairs. The wood paneling on the walls look cracked, while each corner of the room had some form of spider webs weaved into it. She shivered at the thought of those creepy little arachnids. No bug should have eight legs; especial ones that are hairy and have thousands of eyes.

Walking up to a painting on a wall, Alice took her time to gaze at the bright colors and rough textures. It was the first time Alice had ever seen anything in the house that would be considered a decoration.

For a moment she stopped to wonder why the only room in the house with art in it was Watari's. But her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bed squeaking behind her. It almost sounded as if somebody sat down. Her heart went back to thumping in her chest, almost as if her heart was trying to break her ribs. It was painful to breathe. It got so cold that even her own breath could be seen. Her thoughts immediately went to the idea of Joseph being behind her. She didn't know why she thought of him, but the fear she felt was intense. Her legs felt as if they were going to collapse at any moment.

"Please don't be afraid child."

Alice's breath left her faster then she could stop it. It was a voice she was not expecting to hear. His was deep like a bass. Soft and calming, almost as if with just his voice, he could make all her worries fly away. Alice fluttered her eyes closed with satisfaction. The relief was enough to almost make her cry. But she held it in long enough to look behind her at the man who she knew to be nothing but pure of heart. When she looked into those dark chocolate eyes, she couldn't stop the smile that came next.

"Jim," She said his name with a sigh of relief. Jim took off his hat and nodded his head.

"My apologize ma'm, I didn't mean to fighten' you."

Alice shook her head violently. "No! You did no such thing." She lied. She would never want to make Jim feel guilty about anything; even if he did almost give her a heart attack. Jim saw through her and smiled while shaking his head.

"That's right, yu'r as tough as whit leather."

"I don't know what that means." Alice laughed, enjoying Jim's interesting phrase. She liked his old school Southern drawl. It made him easier to talk to, even though she couldn't quite understand half the things he said.

"Why don't you come over here child and sit. You look like yu'r about to hit the ground." Jim waved her over gently. Alice didn't waste a moment to sit. She had grown weak over her little episode before, and she was more than willing to sit down. She had nothing to fear. Jim was a man whom she could trust, even though she had only known him for a mere few minutes of her life. She didn't doubt for a second that he was a good man. It might have just been the southern thing, but the respect she had for him was great. It was just a gut feeling that she was confidant with.

"So what's with the surprise visit Jim?"

The subtle glow of the lamp left Jim's dark brown skin glowing. His smile of surprisingly perfect white teeth left Alice in an awe. There was a sense of comfort with him that Alice had never felt before. Sure the Wammy house made her feel as if she was a part of their family, but she couldn't disclose her most darkest secrets. Not even L knew about the entities she had been talking to. She felt as if she could tell Jim anything.

"I came to see you." Jim answered her. Alice liked that answer.

"Were you worried about me or something?" She had to ask, thinking back to what they had talked about before. Jim had warned her that being out in the middle of nowhere by herself was not safe for her.

"No child, I wasn't worried." He shook his head slowly. That smile never left his lips. He had finally looked away from her and was starting to look around the room. His eyes stopped on the painting that Alice had looked at earlier. His smiled widened more when he saw it. Alice tilted her head in wonder. She couldn't read his mind, so she wondered what Jim was thinking about. In fact, she had so much trust in this man, and yet she knew nothing about him. That sparked her curiosity. She crossed her legs under her and started to comb her fingers through her hair.

"Hey Jim," She began, trying to get him to look back at her. She got her wish when Jim turned his head. His eyes met hers, laughter reflecting off his irises. He seemed to be enjoying himself just sitting in the room. "Would you be offended if I asked about your past?"

It almost sounded as if Jim snorted and coughed at the same time. It was an odd noise, but Alice didn't see his smile ever go away, so she wasn't concerned.

"No child, I won't be offended."

Alice sucked on the bottom of her lip as she tried to think of a good question to start with. It wasn't often she came upon a spirit so willing to speak with her, and be nice about it. She wanted to savor the opportunity as if it was a piece of candy melting in her mouth.

"When were you born?" She played it safe. At least she hoped it was a safe question.

"1838." He didn't hesitate to answer.

"Wow..." Her breath escaped her. "So that makes you..." Alice was stuck on the math, so instead she kept it simple. "...really old."

Luckily, Jim did the math for her.

"169 years old I reckon."

"If you're that old, I'm guessing your family isn't around anymore." Alice unconsciously said out loud. She covered her mouth so fast that she left a mark over her mouth from the slap. She did not want to bring up family until she was certain he was willing to talk about them. It was usually the number one reason for spirits to be stuck on earth. They had unfinished business with their family or other loved ones. She was just used to trying to get the dead to talk about their needs, that she must have just asked him out of habit. She cursed at herself for being so inconsiderate.

Jim didn't make any faces that would express his discomfort or sadness towards the question. In fact, it almost looked as if his smile got bigger. Alice was not ready to hear what came next.

"The family I took care of is long gone, yes. But I still got me some family living in Virginia."

It was as if weights were lifted off her shoulders. She was thrilled to hear he still had living family. They were probably related to him through many generations, but family was still family. Her thrill also turned into wonder. Her instincts to help Jim roared to life inside of her heart, just like a flame would engulf wood. Suddenly the questions started to come to her easier.

"How is your family doing in Virginia?"

Jim chuckled under his breath and looked away from her. She wasn't expecting the hesitation. She had thought he would be more than willing to gush about his family. He sounded confidant before.

"Would you like to hear a story?" Jim changed the subject. Alice's worry came flooding back. She was terrified that she might have hit a sore spot with her question. Nodding her head, she decided if he didn't want to talk about his family, then she wasn't going to push him to do so. "Alright now, have you ever heard of the one about dem crows?"

"Crows?"

"Yeah, de'y smart creatures dem crows. Can mess with yu'r mind if you ain't careful."

Alice stopped combing her hair and cupped her hands together. "What do you mean?"

"There's a superstition around these parts about dem crows. Haven't you ever heard of the rhyme?"

Alice shook her head no. Jim cleared his throat, even though Alice believed he didn't need to. Nothing was going to get stuck in a dead man's throat.

"Crow.  
One's bad,  
two's luck,  
three's health,  
four's wealth,  
five's sickness,  
six is death."

Alice's eyes immediately crossed to the window. She couldn't see outside, but she distinctly heard the cries of crows. The screams were as loud as the crickets. She was sure there was more than just one, but how many there actually were, she did not know. She felt too nauseous to even attempt to look. So instead, she looked back to Jim for comfort, hoping maybe he would claim the story to be an old wise tale. When he didn't say anything to her, she opened her mouth to speak; but not without swallowing first.

"Do you believe that rhyme Jim?"

"Wouldn' you say yur a bit of a wonder yu'rself? I wouldn' be questioning any of dem wise tales."

Jim had her there. If she could see the dead, then what makes a crow so normal then? It was obvious to her anyway when she would often see crows around the dead. She never put the two together before until now.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Jim heard the tremor in her voice. Her breath was as clear as fog. Leaning back for momentum, he grunted lightly as he stood up from the bed. Alice watched him closely as he limped over to the painting. Alice looked at his limp with wonder, not even sure if ghosts could feel pain. She was positive that Jim couldn't have those sorts of feelings since so many spirits in the past complained about missing the feeling of warmth or touch. She was sure pain was included. When Jim reached the painting, he stopped. He looked as if he wanted to touch it, but he kept his hands to his side. That's when he finally answered her.

"I just wanted to warn you about dem crows is all. I don't want you to worry about it."

Alice would have loved to take his advice and not worry, but after hearing the rhyme, she couldn't help her nerves. But she nodded her head to Jim anyway to show him that she would do so. It was Jim after all, and she knew she could trust him. To liven things up, Alice decided to turn the dark mood around.

"So where did you learn about this rhyme?" She laughed under her breath to try and convince herself that it was a joke. It didn't exactly work, but Jim took her good mood as a positive sign.

"Learned it from my Pa."

"Your father sounds like an interesting man."

Jim stayed quiet for a second, not able to look away from the painting on the wall. Alice could see in his eyes that he was thinking about his past. A stare into the unknown that Alice knew she would never be able to fully understand.

"I couldn't tell you much about him," Jim finally filled the silence with his words. Alice had to take a moment to fully process the meaning behind them. From his very proper southern hospitality, his awkward way of walking, the year he was born into, and his incredibly thick accent, Alice finally put it all together. To be born and raised in the 1800's in the American south meant that for Jim, his life must have been disturbingly painful and heartrending. The color of his skin was proof enough. There was no mistaking the ragged clothes and callused hands. He must have been a slave. A job forced upon him by legal and social continuity. That was the reason why Alice had the feeling of disconnection. That feeling that she would never be able to understand him. Alice felt her throat clench up. She tried to swallow, but it was so painful, she had to cover her mouth. She felt sick to her stomach.

Jim seemed to notice her emotions starting to shift. He picked up on her realization towards his past and grew concerned. Not because she had figured it out, but because she honestly looked to be in pain. Jim walked away from the painting and sat back down onto the bed, careful not to shift the mattress around too much to disturb her form.

"Jim?" Alice squeaked out quietly. She was surprised she could even manage to speak.

"What is it child?" He lowered his voice to her level of a whisper.

"You were a slave weren't you?"

His pause only caused Alice to internally tremor more. She never felt so disgusted with the world in her life. How could somebody like Jim could be taken advantaged of just because of the color of his skin?

"My job was to pick the cotton." He answered her. He clearly wasn't as upset with the topic as Alice was, because the next thing she felt was a tear run down her cheek. Jim noticed the tear and gave her the most gentle smile he could muster. "Why are you crying child?"

Alice quickly wiped away the tear, but the attempt to get rid of it fails, since the next tear came right after it. Just the idea of her new friend out in the Texan heat working without any pay, or respect for that matter, made her furious.

"I'm sorry," She apologized, not really knowing why she had to do so. But she felt the need to inside of her.

"Alice." He finally used her name. That sparked her frustration even more.

"It's not fare! Slavery should have never happened!" She started to choke. She never thought she would get so emotional about the subject. But it was Jim after all, and he was important to her.

Jim snorted out a laugh which caused Alice to look at him with round watery crazy eyes. It wasn't a topic to laugh about, certainly when the topic was specifically about him. She was at a loss for words.

"You shouldn't be wasting yur tears on me. I had a mighty fine family that kept me workin' hard." He started his spiel. "And I'll have you know, I became a free man after 1865. Got paid even." He sounded proud. Alice finally gave him a smile. It was quick and short, but it was enough to satisfy Jim. She wasn't sure what he meant, but if Jim was happy with his life, then Alice was going to be too.

"How big a family did you have?" She wondered next, thinking of her own family at the moment. Not blood related, but loving none the less.

"Well let's see now…" He started to get more exited.

"Ace?" the conversation was interrupted. Alice jumped out of her skin at the sound of her nickname. She snapped her vision towards the door and was surprised to find Near hunched over staring at her in return. His was curling a piece of his hair and had a stare so undecipherable, that Alice wasn't even sure he had any emotions at all. She was also terrified that she might have been caught talking to Jim, which to Near would ultimately sound like she was talking to herself. She did not want to be deemed crazy.

"Huh?" She made a noise, glad to have responded so quickly. She could tell that she had been staring at him for too long.

"Is there any particular reason you are in Watari's room by yourself?" His flat tone made Alice sweat.

"I…uh…" She found herself at a road bloke. She darted her eyes to see if Jim was still next to her, and she wasn't surprised to find him gone. Usually spirits never stuck around when somebody else would impose. At least the distraction of Jim was gone, and she was free to clear her mind.

Near didn't wait for her to finish. He stepped into the room and shuffled along until he was directly in front of her sitting form. With swift, but gentle movements, he raised his ivory kissed hand, and placed his thumb on the top of her apple red cheek. His thumb brushed away a stray tear that Alice had forgotten to wipe away from before. His hand was surprisingly warm and soft to the touch. So gentle and comforting that she was afraid the salt in the tear would ruin it.

"You are upset. Do you wish to discuss your troubled thoughts?" Near kept his stare blank, but Alice swore she saw a hint of compassion spark in his eyes. She contemplated the thought of telling Near the truth, but quickly shot down the idea. She knew better then to tell the most logical person in the Wammy house. Biting her bottom lip, she swiftly thought of an excuse for her over emotional state.

"No, it's nothing. I was just feeling a little home sick is all."

"That's odd. I'm fairly certain you seemed upset over this man named Jim for being a slave."

Alice's blood drained from her face so quickly, she almost fainted.

"How much did you hear?" She choked out.

"I overheard you referring to Jim as a slave. Though it was more of in a question form, almost as if you would be asking this man himself." Near stated factually. Alice couldn't read his expression. He was talking with her with such normalcy that she wasn't even sure if Near was creeped out by her. If anybody else were to have over heard her talking with herself, surly they would assume she was off the rocker.

Alice's throat felt like sand. She couldn't swallow or breath without it being painful. Her lips felt like they were cracking, and her skin felt cold. Near was the last person she wanted to discuss dead people with.

"Ace?" Near tried to bring her back. She looked scared, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Near, it's not what you think." The words scraped her throat. "I was…I…"

"You don't need to explain." Near stopped her. Alice started to see spots. She felt so light headed. Outside she overheard two squawks that sounded like the cries of crows. That must have meant there were two outside her window. What did the rhyme say about there being two crows? "You must have been reading up on the history of the house."

Alice had to stop her thoughts long enough to process what Near had just come up with. Was he serious? Did he really just dismiss her odd behavior under the idea of her taking the time to read about the history of the home? And what did he mean about the houses history anyway? What did he know about the house in the first place? Not letting go of this chance for freedom, she nodded her head to agree with Near.

"That's right." She snapped her fingers.

"Then I wish for you to not be so upset. Those day's of slavery are long over."

Alice thought it was sweet of Near to try and cheer her up, even though his way of doing so seemed a little forced. But she thanked Near anyway. Proud of himself form making her smile, Near moved on to what he really wanted to talk about with her.

"L has given you a new task for tomorrow."

"Task?"

"Yes, you will be traveling once more to the city. L will give you the rest of the details upstairs."

* * *

After the little episode with Near, Alice found herself climbing the stairs once more to speak with L. Even though she should have been concentrating on what L was going to make her do, she couldn't stop her thoughts from shifting over to her little conversation with Near. She was relieved to know that Near didn't suspect anything, however, that did not leave out the possibility that he was hiding anything from her. He could have just said that to her to make her feel better. Though Near wasn't the type of person to make up lies. He was usually blunt about the truth. And then there was his excuse. What did he mean by the history of the home? He didn't seem at all surprised by Jim's name. Was this home Jim's a long time ago?

"Ace!" Mello's brash form emerged at the top of the stairs. Alice stopped and gripped the handrail. Mello looked angry, and she wasn't sure why. "After your done talking to L, come see me." He growled. His eyes held a sharpness to them. If he could cut people with one look, then it would be no trouble for him to do so. Not willing to speak, she nodded her head slowly. Mello left her after that, stomping his way back to his room. This night was not turning out so well for her. First the car crash, then her heart attack, and now Mello threatening to kill her? At least that's what she believed he was going to do. The reason behind doing so was still a mystery to her.

Shaking away her troubled thoughts, she forced her legs to continue moving. She needed to get to L before she was yelled at again by god knows who. Reaching his room in just a matter of seconds, she opened his door to find him in the exact spot as before, hunch over his computer at his desk beside the bed. He didn't even take a moment to look up at her before he spoke.

"Come in quickly and shut the door."

Alice did as she was told and closed the door behind her. Now she was left alone with L. She had wondered where Watari went off to, but she knew if she asked, she wasn't going to get a straight answer.

"You needed to see me?"

"Take a seat." He was straight forward again, typing away at his computer. She crawled onto the bed since there were no chair's other than the one L was on. She crossed her legs and prepared herself for the worse.

L was focused on his work, letting his heart tremor on its own. It had taken him some practice, but he finally managed to control his feelings to the point where he could sit with her and not loose himself. In fact, he found his work ethic to be amplified in a way he could have never reached before. Without her, it seemed the job wasn't nearly as interesting as before. The thrill was back, almost as if it was his first case all over again. Not wanting to waste his precious time, he got straight to the point.

"I'm sure Near had told you downstairs that you will be returning to the city tomorrow."

"Yeah," Alice played with a piece of her shirt.

"Good. Your next objective is to…" L stopped in mid sentence when he finally looked over to Alice. Her eyes looked red and puffy, and her skin looked white. He was absolutely sure those were the signs of crying. He stopped his typing and pulled away from his desk. Alice saw him in wonder as he climbed onto the bed without warning.

"L?" She leaned back when he reached her.

"You were crying earlier. Why?"

Alice's mouth dropped open, pressing all her weight on her hands that were supporting herself from falling back.

"No I wasn't." She shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to talk about her ghost friend once more.

"Was your depression linked to something in this house?"

Damnit! Why can't she catch a break? Out of all the reasoning L could have used, he automatically assumed it was spirit related? Whatever happened to not believing her until he had the evidence? Why of all times does he have to start believing her now?

"No! I wasn't crying. I just got something in my eye earlier. That's all!" She panicked. She just had to be an emotional wreck moments ago. Why couldn't she have just held it in? Alice could even tell that L wasn't believing her lie. She couldn't even convince herself.

"Do you not feel I am trustworthy enough to tell me your problems?"

That one hit her in the gut and clenched her heart strings. First he came to a conclusion she did not want to discuss, and now he was trying to use guilt to make her talk? It was not her night indeed.

"That's not it L. I..I…" She stuttered.

"Was it because I forced you out of the room earlier?"

Pursing her lips together, she started to feel her luck coming back. First Near gave her an excuse and now L? Seems her night was turning around for the better.

"That's right. I was upset that you made me leave. I think it's you that doesn't trust me." She placed her hands on her hips to show that she meant it. Since her anger wasn't a complete lie, L seemed to believe her this time. He leaned back, giving Alice room to breathe.

"Then I must apologize. I do trust you. The reason I did not want to discuss with you about Joseph was because of our little experiment beforehand. I must keep our project a secret from the others, which includes Near of course."

"Well Near isn't here now, so why don't you tell me all about this Joseph fellow."

"I'm sorry Ace, but we must move on to your next task."

Alice wanted to argue with L, but he was already getting back into his chair and facing his computer once more. Almost as if nothing had gone wrong between them. She held her tongue long enough to listen to what L wanted her to do.

"I just need you to leave the house while you work on your next experiment. Whether you drive back to town or not is not my concern. I already know that you are aware we have recently captured Joseph. He is, as of now, locked away behind bars where he belongs. Among his possessions, he wore a jacket and a watch. I have these items with me now. Your job is to drive somewhere safe and write down any feelings you get from these two items."

"That's all?"

"I'm going to need you to be away from the house for at least five hours, so if your abilities only take a few minutes, then please enjoy the rest of your day as you wish. Just promise me you will not leave the town."

"Why five hours?"

"Because the excuse you will be using will require such time."

"What's my fake mission?"

"To shop for supplies."

Alice gave him a look that was to show him she thought he was crazy. "I don't think it takes five hours to go and get supplies."

"Normally I would agree, but after observing your shopping habits, I estimated the time to be roughly five hours."

She couldn't disprove him there. In fact, five hours was a short day for her. So agreeing to L's mission, she gave him a salute and hopped off the bed.

"Alright Boss, I can do it." She smiled for the first time that night. It felt good to have her spirits back. L also seemed to be relieved she was back to her normal self. It was much easier to let her leave the room, knowing that she was going to be okay and that he apologized properly to her.

"Good, that's all we need to discuss."

Alice took that as a good-bye. When Alice closed the door behind her to leave L alone, she then remembered her little chat with Mello before. She glanced at the room where he was suppose to be, and frowned. The little spirit she had before vanished in a matter of seconds. Shaking it off as much as she could, she sucked it up and marched over to his door. She reached up to knock on the door, but was blindsided by the door swinging open in front of her. A hand reached out and grabbed the front of her shirt. She was then pulled in by force and the door shut behind her. The hand that grabbed her was Mello's, and boy did he look angry. Taking a quick look at her surroundings so she could form a plan of escape, she noticed Matt lying down on his bed with his handheld game only inches from his eyes. He obviously wasn't going to help her.

"What did L tell you to do?" Mello let go of her shirt. But roughly of course, which made her stagger backwards. She gave Mello a puzzled look.

"Why do you care?"

"Tell me." he growled. Alice put up a front, knowing she needed to hold herself up high. She wasn't going to let Mello speak to her like that.

"It's none of your business."

"Listen you!" He started to walk towards her, but Matt sat up from his bed and set his game down.

"Stop Mello, she won't talk if you scare her like that."

"I'm sorry, scare me? Ha! He could never scare me!" Alice smirked, finding her confidence once more. She had missed her smart mouth and witty comments.

"You god damn bitch!"

Matt was quick to hold Mello back by his shoulder. He pushed Mello behind him and stood between the two. He didn't want blood on the floor.

"Listen Ace, it's for the good of the case that we know what's going on. We can't have secrets among us if we are all working on the same job."

"Fine, you really want to know? He ordered me to go and get supplies."

The boy's didn't seem to like that answer. Especially Mello.

"Is that what he told you to tell us?" Mello pushed Matt aside.

"What is wrong with you two?" Alice got defensive. If anybody was hiding secrets, it was them. Mello was angry with her for reasons she was clearly unaware of, and Matt looked as if he wanted her to tell him something that he seemed to already come to the conclusion of himself. She wasn't sure what that was, but she only hoped it wasn't ghost related.

"What's wrong with us? What's wrong with you?" Mello took a step forward again. "You and I both know your hiding something from us."

Matt had to stop him again before he got too close to her.

"I'm not hiding anything! You two are acting mad! If anybody is hiding something in this house, it you two!" She threw her hands about.

"How about we make a deal." Matt spoke before Mello could yell again.

"I'm listening," Alice crossed her arms and pushed her chin up.

"We tell you a little secret of ours, and you have to return the favor with a secret of your own."

Alice had to think over the deal. It depended on how good their secret was. The boy's wouldn't be acting so weird if they didn't have any good secrets to tell. And just the thought of them knowing something she didn't made her paranoid. The more she contemplated the thought, the more she had to know what they knew. So nodding her head, she agreed to their terms. But under her conditions.

"Fine, you tell me first."

"Hell no!"

"That's fair," Matt agreed, causing Mello's glare to cross to him. "But once we tell you ours, then your secret must be one that relates to L."

Alice wasn't sure what they meant by that, but she agreed anyway, thinking maybe she could make something up. She assumed since the boys were obsessed with pleasing their boss, they would want to know everything there was about him.

"Good." Matt smiled, which Alice could tell was forced. "Now about our secret…" Matt sounded as if he was thinking. Alice started to wonder if maybe Matt would make something up as well. It was that, or there were so many secrets that he had to think about which one to tell her. Either way, she didn't like his hesitation. But surprisingly Mello was the one to speak next.

"L doesn't want you around while we work on the case."

Alice felt her mind go blank.

"What?" Her voice sounded muffled. Was Mello telling the truth? Should she believe him? Just moment's ago L had given her a task that involved the case. Why would he not want her there to work on it with them if she was already doing some of the work in the first place? It made no sense.

"I'm not repeating myself." Mello made that clear.

"I don't believe you."

"Why else would he send you out to town? To survey the area? Why would he want you to survey a town so small, we could just take a photo of it from the top of a tree?"

"You're lying."

"Ace," Matt's voice softened. That only seemed to make Alice more angry.

"No. I won't tell you a thing! You're obviously lying to me which makes our deal null-and-void. We are through." She swung open the door behind her. Before the boys could stop her, she escaped the room and slammed the door shut behind her. The loud noise seemed to make her escape all the more worthwhile. Throughout the whole day her emotions have gone haywire. She had felt happiness, fright, frustration, relief, joy, sadness, and now even anger. Stomping down the stairs, she made sure to make her steps loud enough for the whole house to hear. the door slamming wasn't enough to please her. What were those two up to anyway? What had they wanted her to say that involved L? Did they figure out the experiments she was going through? Did they secretly know that she could see the dead? Whatever the reason was, Alice didn't want to think about it.

Reaching the last step on the stairs, her stomps turned into slow glides. Were they truly lying about L? Would they lie about something like that just to get her to talk? That seemed even harsh for Mello. At that point she didn't know what to believe. She sat down on the last step and ran both her hands through her hair. What was going on with her new perfect little family?

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Did you enjoy it?

**Itty Bitty Panda Committee, Yumeno, Beyond Barby, MikaUchiha666, ****alicelouise'x, ****Dreamer of the Knight, ****XBloodMageRikaX, ****CaribbeanTrinidadian, ****Chary, ****VerityEldrich, ****KiyUzumaki, ****Saber Amane, ****Stormygio, ****and mrs-Sora-sparrow.** (Thank you all! Every time I read your reviews, I get more pumped up to write! Just goes to show the magic a reviewer has over someone like me. I'm just a lush really.) ****************

** Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** Oh my friend. I know this one all to well. My niece is the perfect example. It's a baby!**  
**

**freaksforever: **I knew it! I knew a "_That's what she said_" joke would eventually come from this story! I was just waiting for it! I don't blame you. I would have said it too. Oh, and good catch with Jim. Seems you have a knack for picking up little mysteries like those. =)

**MyNameIsReallyLong:** I actually didn't get your e-mail. I would have told you sooner, but I had no other way to contact you other then in my story. You don't have an account on Fan-Fiction, or you just aren't signed in when you leave reviews. Otherwise I would have sent you a privet message. In my last review I noticed my e-mail didn't fully publish. Do you still need my e-mail? If so, then just leave me a privet message and we can discuss it more there. I would really like to read this story of yours. =)

**Shaley-9: **Why thank you my dear! I am truly humbled by your words. I wouldn't necessarily say English isn't romantic. It's just romantically challenged is all. It can learn to sound sweet, but only if we avoid brash words and foul language. Maybe if more romantic adjectives were used, then we wouldn't sound so...oh what's the word...barbaric? =D

**g-minor-art: **I love the Mad Hatter! I love Alice in Wonderland! (If you already haven't noticed...). Sorry about the hamstring, that sucks! But Congratulations on your own story! Greek mythology? Sounds interesting. Do you plan on posting it on FictionPress? It's the sister website for FanFiction. Anybody who wants to make up their own story and post it can post it on FictionPress.

**KanrasLittleSerpent:**Talented? Oh golly gee no. I'm not nearly as good as some other writers on this site. But I'm am thankful you believe so. I love Matt too! I hope your wall's are bare. I don't want to be the one to blame for damaging your precious home. Thank you for reading!

** Bree Renee: **_Merci! _I see you've read my story up until now and have enjoyed it so far. I'm glad to have brought you so much entertainment! xD I hope this update was fast enough for you. I promise my next update will be even quicker! At least, I hope...


	36. Alice Starts her Own Case

WELCOME! xD

This is chapter 35 of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

I'm hyperventilating right now.

I know that doesn't sound good, but it is.

It's because I reached 500 reviews,

and I know what you all must be thinking.

"Wisty needs to calm down. She's going to kill herself if she keeps freaking out for every chapter."

But I can't help it you guys!

You make me this way and I love it! xD

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, but hey, at least I can say I own the greatest OC to ever exist.)_

* * *

**Alice Starts her Own Case**

By the time Alice was ready for bed, she had almost forgotten that a rat used to occupy her room. She knew better then to sleep in a room where a dead rat used to be. So, she used L's room instead. That night when she got into bed after getting her nightgown on, she crawled under L's large queen size sheets and comforter, and made herself comfortable. It wasn't as if L was going to be sleeping anytime soon, so she made sure to spread out in the middle.

But as comforting as it was to be lying down on a fluffy mattress, the room wasn't exactly quiet. L was still at his computer with headphones over his ears so he could listen to some audio. Apparently he was reviewing phone conversations. Alice wasn't told much else. When Alice was getting ready for bed earlier, L offered to leave so she could sleep. But Alice didn't mind him in the room. L was usually in the dark anyway, so what good would it have been if he were by himself? Alice insisted he stay and continue his work.

Not being able to win that argument, L found himself trying to watch the screen while Alice was only just a few feet away asleep on his bed; and in a nightgown of all things! Since when did she wear nightgowns to bed? From what L knew, she usually had on some form of short or trouser. And even if the shorts were a bit revealing, they still had childish cartoons or crazy colorful patterns on them. What made it worse though was her unusual way of moving around in her sleep. L was certain there was some medical term for the way she moved, but he wasn't quite sure what that was. She didn't ever get up and walk around, but she did toss and turn as if she was at war with the bed itself. She would kick at the blankets and hug her pillow to her side for one movement, and then change her weird habit by literally tossing the pillow at the wall and then covering herself with the covers like a little turtle hiding in its shell. At times, L thought she might be awake and angry at him for typing too loud, but his worries would subside quickly when he heard the all too familiar short snore. Yes, Alice snored. But not in the loud obnoxious way like most would. Just like the way she snorted when she laughed, it almost sounded as if she were snorting in her sleep. L found that part of her the most amusing. But with her dressed the way she was, and not even too far out to reach, L found himself more concentrated on his work than ever before. Because if he didn't, he knew that his thoughts would lead him to his own grave. Especially around three in the morning when Alice ripped all the blankets of her and pushed them to the bottom of the bed, leaving her body exposed for all to see. L got the most work done then.

Luckily for L, the night seemed to go by quickly. With the extra boost of concentration he had, his work seemed to progress a lot more smoothly then it usually would. He made sure to keep note of how well he worked with her in the room. It seemed he would have to have her by his side more often if he wanted results like the ones before.

By morning when the sun reached the horizon and its glow left an orange hue in the sky, Alice awoke with a yawn and a stretch. She was of course oblivious to how much she had influenced L's work, so when she noticed L still working at his computer with his head phone's on, she wondered if maybe she had been a distraction for him. It looked as if he was still working on the same task he had the night before. When L become aware of Alice waking up, he slipped off his head phones to greet her for the morning.

"Good morning Ace. I take it since your night was…eventful…, you must have had a good night's rest."

Alice wasn't sure what L had meant by _eventful_ until she noticed all the covers wrapped around her legs and hips. Her pillow was on the floor and her hair looked as if it went through a hurricane. She threw her hands through her hair to see if she could fix the damage, but all it seemed to do was make it deflate. None of the tangles got out. Hoping maybe she could pull of the dirty homeless girl look, she gathered the blankets around her and started to try and break herself free.

"It was a good night's rest," she answered L as she got her hips loose. All that was left was her legs. L was brought back to the memories of trying to pull her free from the entanglement of blankets the night they had worked on the importation drug case.

"That's good to hear. I'm sure Watari has breakfast waiting for you downstairs if you like."

When Alice finally got her legs out, her stomach rumbled at the thought of breakfast.

"Breakfast sounds wonderful!" She hopped out of bed. L couldn't help his eyes glancing at the swing of her gown around her thighs. Of course the gown was short. Only Alice would wear something like that to bed and not feel any embarrassment. Not noticing the eye's behind her, she gave one last stretch that raised the hem of her gown just slightly, and proceeded out the room. L never felt so much pressure lifted off him when she left. The whole night he had been tense, and he never even noticed until he got the feeling of his body collapsing. This little pleasure didn't last long though before Alice's head popped back into the room. L felt his arms and legs stiffen once again. "I almost forgot, would you like me to bring you something to eat?" She innocently offered.

L brought himself back to his senses. "No need. I will follow you down shortly. But thank you for the offer."

Alice shrugged her shoulders and waved him off. She was too hungry to carry on with the conversation. Leaving L finally to himself, he turned off his computer and sighed. If Alice wasn't going to be there with him, then there was no longer any motive for him to work. He had gotten a lot done that night anyway, he could use a break, and cake sounded delightful.

When Alice reached the kitchen, she saw Watari scramble around the room with an apron on. Alice smiled at the sight. She liked it when he wore his apron. He looked as if he enjoyed himself more with the apron on when he cooked. Looking to the table next, she noticed Matt, Mello, and Near all staring at her as if she were glowing in the dark. Mello had his mouth open with food still in it. Near's emotionless face almost looked surprised. And Matt had on a smirk that Alice did not like one bit.

"What?" She mostly sneered at Matt. She decided last night that she was going to be angry at Matt and Mello. She wasn't going to believe their lies. L clearly was not keeping her at a distance with the case, and her task that day proved it. So her anger that morning was focused on the two boys, and she was determined to show them how angry she was.

"What are you wearing?" Mello spat out, his fork dropping to his plate. Alice placed her hands on her hips. Watari turned around to see what all the commotion was about and gasped when he saw her. He knew that she had just come from L's room, and her outfit wasn't a good sign. He was going to have to talk with L later about the sleeping arrangements. Otherwise he was afraid for L's health. Clearly Alice wasn't going to be good for his heart if she kept wearing gowns like those to bed.

Alice gave Watari a puzzled look, not sure why he sounded so surprised. It wasn't as if it was the first time she wore something revealing around him. But seeing his face contort into a frown, Alice started to feel a bit embarrassed.

"It's just a night gown." She tried to defend herself. It didn't work, since Watari still made the same face.

"Yes, I understand Miss Ace, but…" Watari tried to find the right words. She was right after all. He had seen her in clothes like that before. It would seem odd now to complain about it.

"I'm okay with it." Matt's smirk only got wider. Alice's cheeks flashed red.

"I'm going upstairs to change." She turned sharply. The last thing she wanted to do was make Matt happy. Watari was thrilled to hear that. He was relieved to know that he wouldn't have to fight her on the matter. Matt's smirk didn't leave his lips. Instead, he continued to eat his breakfast, savoring the salty taste of the eggs. Mello watched Alice leave the room, his mind at a standstill, still trying to process what he just witnessed. Near had gone back to eating a while ago, knowing he had to build up his energy for the day. Wasting time was not an option.

As L was descending the stairs, he noticed Alice coming back up looking flustered. Judging by the face she was making, he would be wise not to say anything to her. Keeping his eyes focused in front of him, he let her pass huffing and puffing all the way up the stairs. Under her breath she was mumbling something about someone being a pervert. He was curious to know who it was, but he would soon find out when he entered the kitchen. Seeing Matt's smile gave him the answer he needed. Again, he was going to rethink Matt being his third successor. If he was going to treat Alice that way, then surly he wasn't ready to be a detective.

"L, I have your breakfast right here." Watari called to L while placing a piece of coffee cake down by his chair. Next to the cake was his coffee as well, a perfect breakfast for somebody who had a sweet tooth. Letting go of his ill thoughts towards Matt, he sat down in his usual way of squatting and started to consume his treat. A glass of orange juice was sitting in front of the empty seat next to him. He assumed it was for Alice.

"How was your night L?" Matt questioned. L could hear in his voice how innocent Matt was trying to make the question sound. But L noticed the slight glare coming from Mello and couldn't help but wonder what the two were thinking about. He wondered if maybe Matt knew about his feelings towards Alice. It was obvious that he could have witnessed some of the looks he gave her. He tried so hard to keep his feelings neutral, but he wouldn't be surprised if his poker face slipped once in a while before. He was keeping a serene face now, but back when he was losing himself, he was a complete mess. He should have known the boys would see right through it all. They were his successors after all. If they hadn't known by now, then they wouldn't be worthy of succeeding him in the first place.

L had a plan though. He knew the two boys', or three depending on if Near knew or not, weren't going to just accuse him without the proof. And he wasn't going to confess any time soon. L was in the clear for now. All he had to do was make sure nothing could be used against him if the time ever came to be blamed for such feelings. He would just have to stick to the case and nothing else. This meant he was going to have to try and find a new place to sleep for the night. Alice in his room with him at night was a dangerous topic to bring up.

"It was quite successful really," He played it safe. Apparently it wasn't the answer Mello was expecting since his response was spit out some of the food in mouth with surprise. L gave Mello a questionable look. "Did I say something to offend you?"

"Successful?" Near spoke next, giving Mello time to swallow what was left in his mouth.

"Indeed. I reviewed the tapped phone conversations. I've retrieved some information that will be vital for our case. I've stored all the information in the evidence folder. I would like each of you to look it over and give me your opinions afterward."

"Splendid!" Watari praised L by putting another piece of cake in front of him. His last piece somehow was consumed in a matter of seconds. Watari was going to have to keep a better watch on him.

"Were these the conversation between the dealers or the thugs?" Mello seemed to calm down by that point.

"Both."

"Wow, you did accomplish a lot." Matt was truly surprised. He knew L was good at his job, but the audio was almost 48 hours worth of conversation. It would have been impossible to listen to it all in just twelve.

"Don't act so surprised. I expect the same amount of effort from all of you."

That got both Matt and Mello to shut up. Near merely nodded his head to agree.

"God I need something sweet. Where's my O-jay?" Alice walked in next. Her outfit of choice wasn't all that much better from her night gown. Her short shorts made her legs go on forever, her snake skin boots with the expensive brand name scaled in colors that were uncommon for a snake to have in the first place, and her spaghetti strand top with a silver sparkly vest showed off her shoulders and cleavage nicely. Watari sighed with defeat.

"Your orange juice is here." L pointed next to him, keeping his eyes focused on his cake. He had to remind himself that the boys were watching him. He couldn't risk giving anything more away, and that included eying Alice in a way that would not be appropriate. He was a grown man, how hard could it be to keep his thoughts clean?

Alice quickly made her way to the chair and sat down next to L. She grabbed the glass as if it were going to be her last, and chugged the liquid in a matter of seconds. Alice had almost missed the sweet sensation of the orange zest tingling down her throat. There was nothing like a glass of orange juice in the morning to make her feel whole again. When she slammed the cup on the table, she let out a sigh of content.

"Thirsty?" Matt couldn't resist.

"I refuse to acknowledge your existence," she huffed in return, turning her nose the other direction.

"That was a contradiction." Near set his fork down. "How could you refuse somebody who you believe to not exist?"

Alice gave Near a frown and glare. Near darted his eyes away awkwardly.

"I suppose I have diminished your insult by correcting you…"

"We need to start our work." L interrupted the tension in the room. Near was glad to see the glare come off him.

"I'll head out as soon as I'm done eating," Alice answered him. She noticed Mello's and Matt's eyes on her. They looked as if they wanted to say something, but were holding themselves back.

"Excellent. You will be using Matt's truck once again."

"But isn't his truck damaged?"

"You don't have to worry about the dent in the hood," Matt answered her this time. "I've already checked the motor and the trucks frame. All you damaged was the hood, and a dented hood will not affect the quality of how she will drive."

"As long as you don't drive into ditches anymore, then you should be fine." Mello came next, sounding bitter as always. Alice didn't give them any indication that she heard a word they said. Instead she turned to Watari and held out her empty glass.

"Refill please." She smiled brightly.

* * *

Alice drummed her fingers over the gear shift with annoyance. She was parked off on the side of the road that led to the city. She estimated she was about two minutes away. She had left the house knowing what her objective was, but she couldn't help but wonder about the conversation she had with Matt and Mello. Sure she was still upset with them and believed them to be the biggest liars to ever walk among mankind, but that didn't leave out the seed that was implanted in her head. The seed of doubt; her subconscious picked at her brain to rethink their side of the story and maybe give them the benefit of the doubt. It was preposterous to image, but her thoughts were already there.

Grunting loudly, she unbuckled her seat belt. She needed fresh air. She was just glad to have been given the opportunity to get away from them. After her breakfast, she made sure to get out of the house as soon as she could. But not without listening to what L had to say first. Before she had left for her little journey, L had to give her the secret location of the jacket and the watch. Apparently Watari had slipped the two articles in the back of the truck under some tarps and ropes. So closing the door behind her, she decided the time had come to start her work.

Matt and Mello were wrong about L. He wasn't keeping her away. She was obviously helping.

"Hey Alice,"

Alice leaped back with fright when she saw Doug come around the truck.

"Sonofabitch!" she hissed as she held her heart. "Doug! What ever happen to our deal? You were supposed to warn me!"

"I'm sorry. I just got so excited when I saw you. After the crash, I sort of got lost and couldn't find you."

Alice rubbed her forehead. "I can't help you right now," she sighed; Doug casted his eyes to the ground. Alice had never seen him look so defeated. She hadn't meant to sound so angry, but the boys had upset her so much. She needed to try and control her angry. Otherwise she was just going to make things worse. "I'm sorry Doug." She changed her tone. "I just…need more time. I promise I will help you."

No matter how hopeful she tried to make herself sound, Doug wasn't buying it. He turned away from her and started to rub the back of his neck.

"I don't mind," he lied. Alice could see it in the way his body was hunched over. Running a hand through her hair, she pressed her lips together tightly and internally slapped herself. She hated herself for not being able to help him. But an idea came to her that she should have thought of before. How could she have been so stupid?

"No, I can help you now." A smiled played at her lips. "Well, I mean, after I finish with my work. Then I'll be free for like five hours."

Doug's optimism came rushing back. "You mean it?" He just had to ask.

"Of course," she laughed with a snort. To prove herself, she walked over to the back of the truck and pulled down the door. There sitting in the very back was the rolled up tarp. Pushing herself up, she climbed in to retrieve it. "In this tarp are two objects that I need to analyze." She started to explain while pulling the tarp with her. "When I'm through with them, I will be free to help you find your friend Bleek."

"Zeek," he corrected her. She waved it off and jumped out of the back. Pulling the tarp the rest of the way, she let it fall to the ground.

"There we go," she mostly said to herself with triumph.

"How long will it take for you to _analyze_?" he asked, as if the word was foreign to him.

"That depends," was all she could say. She wasn't even sure herself.

Doug watched her start to unravel the tarp with curiosity. She had to unhook the knots that kept the tarp wrapped tight together. By the third knot, both of them were getting restless.

"Man. It's like those Christmas presents that are all taped up."

"Doug, shush, trying to concentrate here."

Doug covered his mouth and looked away. With the ghost distracted, Alice finally was able to get the last knot undone. Smiling with relief, she unfolded the tarp gleefully.

It didn't turn out to be as fascinating as she thought it would. It was just a plain grey jacket with some sort of logo Alice wasn't familiar with, probably the brand. The watch was a little fancier, but she wasn't impressed with the silver metal and black dials. She had seen more impressive watches on her father. Reaching down to touch the jacket first, she heard Doug gasp from behind her.

"Alice, wait!" He tried to stop her, but her hand already pressed down onto the fabric. The next thing she felt was a rush of cold air. She was tossed back to the ground and forced into a vision she had no control over. Through the eyes of the victim, she saw Joseph looking down at her. She felt so vulnerable and helpless. Like a pig in a slaughter house waiting to be hacked. She wanted to scream, but she found her lungs to be useless. Joseph's hands were curled around her throat tightly, forcing her to stop her breathing. She missed the taste of oxygen. She clawed at his hands to brake free, but he was too much for her. She tried to kick, but that was only wasting more of her precious energy. She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. His eye's held a darkness behind them. She whimpered for him to stop, but that only seemed to please his appetite. She could already start to feel herself go. Beyond the pain she felt, she heard her name being called. Only it wasn't really hers. But she identified with the name as if it were her own. She wanted to call out to whoever was calling to her, but she had no voice.

"Alice!" Her vision started to blur. She needed to hear her name again. She pleaded out loud to call once more. The voice obliged and shouted her name again. She was sucked away from her vision like a vacuum. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the dirt with her hands around her throat, as if she had been trying to protect it. Tears formed around her eyes and she was shaking. Doug was kneeled down next to her, looking just as frazzled as she was. "Alice, are you okay?"

Her throat croaked when she tried to respond. Just seeing Doug in front of her made her vision all come together. It wasn't her that was being choked in the vision. It had been Doug. And the person who had been calling out to her had been his friend Zeek. Joseph was the one who had killed Doug. After his death, he took Doug's jacket and his identity. It was no wonder Alice had subconsciously said yes to L after he asked her if he knew who his victim was. She had been with his victim this whole time.

"What happened?" Doug pleaded with her. Alice could already feel his fear. The feeling was starting to make more sense as to why she had been so afraid of looking into Joseph's eyes. Unknowingly she had been picking up on Doug's fears while he was around. The uneasy feeling from the photo, the noise in the room that Jim had made, and the troubled emotional state that she had been on ever since she left for America, it was all starting to make sense to her.

"Joseph killed you," she finally managed to admit out loud. She hated the face Doug made next.

"I tried to warn you about the Jacket. It was mine."

"Why didn't you tell me you were killed by that man?" She sat up to reach Doug's eye level.

"I didn't know his name. He was just some thug who worked for the dealers."

Alice took a moment to look away from Doug and observe her surroundings. The road held no indication that there was going to be any traffic anytime soon. They were alone in the middle of nowhere. She ran a hand through her hair to try and get some of the dirt out.

"I heard Zeek calling out your name."

Doug seemed to cheer up after hearing his friend's name. "You saw him?"

"No, I only heard him."

"Is he okay?" Doug got more anxious. Alice desperately wanted to tell him that his friend was fine, but she didn't know. Nothing in the vision told her that he made it out alive. Just the fact that Zeek was there while Doug was being choked to death didn't give her much hope that he survived. If Doug was murdered, then it wouldn't be surprising to know that Zeek was too.

"I don't know." She gave the ground her full attention. Doug seemed to sync with her depression. They both sighed at the same time. Alice glanced up to see the jacket and watch still waiting on the tarp. After having a vision like the one before, Alice had to think twice about touching the watch. She didn't remember seeing the watch on Joseph's wrist or Doug's.

"Doug."

"Hmm?" was all Doug could say. He was too busy sulking to want to use full words.

"Whose watch is that?"

Doug took what little energy he could muster to look at the watch. His breath was taken away the second his eyes met with the ticking metal. He scrambled off the ground and ran over to the tarp. He fell to his hands and knees and tried to grab the watch. To his dismay, his hand went right through it. That didn't stop him from trying again though.

"It's Zeek's watch!" He got excited. Alice jumped off the ground to help him. Seeing Doug try and grab the watch concerned her, so she picked it up for him. The cold metal slid into her palm. Doug looked at the watch as if it were a god. "He's alive, right? Just use your special powers to find him!"

"Doug, I don't know if I will be able to."

"Please try!" He pleaded once more. Alice swabbed her thumb over the glass and tried to clear her mind. She really did want to help Doug, but the fear she went through before was still replaying in her mind. She swayed on her feet and closed her eyes. She rubbed the glass harder in hopes it would create something for her to feel. Nothing seemed to work. The watch felt empty, as if it had never been worn before.

"There's nothing Doug."

"Keep trying. There has to be."

"Did he ever even wear this?"

Doug was silent for a moment, rethinking his past of how Zeek dressed. His frowned deepened when he couldn't come up with images of Zeek wearing the watch.

"I don't know if he ever did…" The realization hit him. Alice groaned and dropped the watch to the ground. If Zeek never wore it, then it was no use to her.

"Then you're just going to have to tell me where to find him."

"But I don't know where he is."

"Do you remember the last place you both were?"

She didn't get an answer from him. He paced back and forth with a look that showed he was angry with himself. Alice could tell he was struggling with the memory. She had already felt his death, and never in the vision did his location ever come about. She assumed that's what Doug was thinking about as well.

While she waited for him, a subtle buzzing noise came from her pocket. Knowing her phone was ringing, she had to contemplate whether or not she should answer it. There was a possibility it was the boys she did not want to talk to. Or it was L checking up on her. She couldn't very well ignore L, so with a bit of effort to reach into her pocket, she pulled out her cell phone and flipped the receiver open.

"If this is either Matt or Mello, then I don't want to hear it. If this is L, then a happy hello to you."

There was a pause on the other end, as if the person had to think about how they were going to answer her. That gave her the answer she needed.

"I'm hanging up."

"Ace wait!" Matt finally used his voice. Just as she was about to shut her phone, Mello started to talk next.

"You're going to be gone for five hours, right?"

She stopped herself before the phone shut.

"How do you know?"

"L told you to be gone for five hours, right?"

"You eavesdropped on our conversation, didn't you?"

"No Ace, I didn't have to. That's the same amount of time it's going to take to interrogate Joseph."

"What are you saying?" Alice didn't like where the conversation was going. Mello wasn't using his angry-at-the-world voice. He sounded normal for once, which meant that he was being serious.

"I'm saying L has sent you away so we could interrogate the bad guy. He's keeping you away from the case."

"God, shut up!" Her voice cracked.

"He doesn't want you around while we work!" Mello's voice got louder. Alice threw her phone to the ground and watched the screen crack. The battery popped out causing the phone to shut down immediately. Judging by how hard she tossed the thing, she assumed she broke it. The thought made her feel better, but not enough to stop her from kicking the dirt with her boot. She refused to believe Mello. She wanted to kick him in the nuts for telling her lies.

But were they?

Should she really just dismiss the thought? If Alice just took a moment to look back at all the conversations she had with L about the case, then she would not find much. In fact, her so called _objectives_ seemed pointless by that point. And how come she wasn't told about the interrogation? Why wasn't L telling her anything? Did he not trust her? Is he the one lying to her?

Rubbing her hands together violently, she turned her attention to Doug who was no longer walking back and forth. Instead, he was sitting on the ground with his head between his legs. Deciding on her own not to believe anyone of them, she walked over to Doug and coughed to get his attention.

"Let's go find your friend."

Doug wasn't sure what had happened to make her so determined, but he was happy to agree none the less.

"But we don't know where he is." He got up from the ground.

"Doesn't matter. I've got plenty of time to help you now, so let's go."

The moment felt like the time she ran away to take care of the ship with the diamonds. She was going to do what she wanted, and she wasn't going to take crap from anybody. But this time, the only help she was going to have was a dead druggy. She was just going to have to use what she had, and hope for the best. At least she had a vehicle; and even though she didn't know where Zeek was, that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to find him. He had to be somewhere in Texas, right?

Walking over to the truck, she pulled open the driver door and got herself ready. She was excited to be back doing what she pleased. It was a rush to be disobeying L and the others. Turning the key in the ignition, she was expecting the motor to roar to life. Nothing roared. The motor didn't even purr. Turning the key again, she hoped maybe it was a fluke. But the motor stayed silent. She was about to question the odd phenomenon until she noticed the little arrow on the gas meter to be on the letter E. She slammed her hands down on the steering wheel, cursing each time her hands made contact with the leather. Doug was sitting next to her watching the scene with dismay.

"Stupid truck!"

As she was attacking the wheel and cursing Matt's name, an idea came to her. She still had one other friend. She used to have his number until she destroyed her phone, but that didn't matter. They had still made a plan to meet each other again in town. The town was small enough, so she wasn't worried about finding him. Smiling to herself, she jumped out of the car. She was only two minutes away from the abandoned store, and the place where she was supposed to meet him. She thanked her lucky stars that she was a good flirt; otherwise she wouldn't have Eric to help her out.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**Stormygio, mrs-sora-sparrow, XBloodMageRikaX, Itty Bitty Panda Committee, Yumeno, Me, VerityEldrich, Saber Amane, Bree Renee, HybridRebellion, ****KarinaAme666**, **J.J**, **MyNameIsReallyLong**, **KiyUzumaki**, **Echo coz thats my Wammy name**, **xGrellSutcliffx**, **and Bebbingtoe. ** (I'm so happy to hear from all of you! I literally danced while I was reading them all. It wasn't pretty. I'm not a good dancer. In fact, dancing should be illegal for me, that's how bad I am. Thank you all! I heart you!)

**KanrasLittleSerpent: **Oh good, your walls have been spared. I promise you all your questions will be answered in the future. Just keep reading to find out. =D

** Cassiopeja87: **Oh my, in one day? That's incredible! I have a lot written. Thank you for reading! I hope my story didn't keep you away from anything important...

** Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **This one was hard, but I think I know the answer. Did the third brother buy a candle and some matches? Because I know light would fill the room.

**freaksforever:** 1,000 reviews is my goal for the story! So I'm crossing my fingers. I did have a KICKASS thanksgiving, thank you. =D

** Smiling Rainbow:** (Chapter 12) I like your name, it makes me smile. Watari would have been perfect for the caterpillar, I agree. Thank you for the recommendation! I hope your friends enjoy the story as well.

**Bow Down To Gir:** As long as you promise to squeal and twitch when you read my story, then I'm okay with your delayed reviews. In fact, I require all of those who read my story to squeal and twitch. And the romance will come. I'm building up the drama first. =D

**AraCookie: **I've never read that book, but it sounds interesting. I adore history. I hope this bed scene lives up to your expectations. =)

** tenshi-no-akuma-81: **Yay! Christmas present! I am incredibly grateful. Thank you so much! I am aware of my spelling and grammar. It has always been my downfall, but with perfection come practice. I intend to work hard and try my best to achieve the potential I know I have. I do appreciate the help. I love to get reviews about my misspelling's or grammatical errors. It honestly helps me to improve my work. =)

**Fluffy Chocolate Pie:** Good god I love you...(Did that come off too strong?). Well I don't care. I meant every word. You seriously took up two pages of the reviews. I must say, I especially enjoyed your short story about the bumble bee named Charky. He entertained me. I also enjoyed your last review. I'm not quite sure what the message was, but I felt the love. Whoever that_ HAMana_ was, he or she really did have a way with words. My heart went all a flutter. I can't wait to hear from you again! Judging by all the reviews you've written already, I just know its going to be as epic as the rest. You know, its weird. After reading all your reviews, I feel as if I know you on a personal level. freaky...xD (P.S. love the name Hun. Classic)


	37. The Search for Zeek

HI!

I know my story has been loosing some of its humor, but its getting really close to the climax.

Things are going to get really intense and dramatic soon.

I'll still make sure to stay true the humorous side of my story,

but a good story is never without a climax where things go incredibly wrong.

So I hope you stick with me to find out how it all ends!

Again, I just want to thank you all for reading!

I am truly honored to have readers like you!

Enjoy chapter 36 of_ An Ace up my Sleeve_!

SIDE NOTE: There is new Fan Art up on my profile! It was drawn by _givetherabbitthefreakintrix_. IT'S SO CUTE! YOU MUST SEE IT! GO LOOK NOW!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. No seriously. I don't. I kid you not. My name has no association with the manga or anime.)_

* * *

**The Search for Zeek**

The decision to leave on her own didn't start to really affect her until she realized how far two minutes could take her by foot. Two minutes when driving was quick, but on foot, the two minutes stretched out to become 30 minutes. Thus, her feet start to hurt, along with her pride. She thought she had done something incredibly cool by breaking her phone and then making the decision to run away, but in reality, it was a stupid choice to make. Every step she took made her wish she hadn't destroyed her phone. At least then she could call Eric. But alas, she suffered through the barren road scape and scorching heat. She suffered through Doug's insistent nagging and horrible attempts to cheer her up. The worst part of it all though was her own inevitability to keep her thoughts from reaching their breaking point. She had almost cracked when she was in that jail cell in France, so it was only a matter of time until she got to herself again. Even though Doug was with her, he sure wasn't stopping her from thinking about all the lies she believed she had been hearing for the past few days.

"Look, I see the city!" Doug pointed ahead. Alice would have been just as anxious as him had she not already fallen into a deep depression. She felt as if she could trust no one. She was even starting to doubt if Eric was going to keep his promise. At that point she wouldn't be surprised if he just didn't show up at all. He could have lied to her as well. It seemed to be the new trend anyway. "Alice, are you okay?"

"Why can't anyone just tell me what's going on?" She kicked at the sign that welcomed those into Grapeland. The sound of her boot hitting the metal post pleased her inner turmoil, but not enough to keep the feeling going. She wanted to kick something else, and this something else had blonde hair and a foul mouth. For a few more kicks, she imagined the pole as Mello. It pleased her until Doug had to yell for her to stop.

"What?" She finally looked to Doug.

"Is that who we are looking for, over there?"

Alice followed his finger to where he was pointing and noticed the familiar blue Dodge truck. It was facing the other direction, but inside she could see the back of some boy's head. A smile slithered onto her face. She wasn't expecting him to be there until the afternoon, which meant he was early. It also meant that he was eager to see her.

_Jackpot_

"That's him!" she cheered. Doug felt relieved after seeing her smile. It had been a while since she's been happy. Alice leapt forward and ran as fast as she could to the truck. She couldn't wait a second more. She needed to talk to somebody that wasn't dead, or someone that wasn't lying to her. Eric seemed innocent enough. He had no reason to lie to her in the first place, so she figured she could trust him. When Alice reached his truck, she slammed her hand down on the back to try and get Eric's attention. It worked, because the next thing she new, Eric was jumping out from the front seat and smiling a goofy grin her way. Alice had never seen somebody so happy to see her in her life. Occasionally she would get that sort of feeling from L, but she was beyond thinking about him. She didn't want to even reflect on anything that related to the boys. Eric was there, and that was all the help she was going to need. Of course Doug too, but there was only so much a ghost could do to help.

"Howdy Ace. I'm just so darn happy you came. You're early too!" His southern accent chirped. His smiled faltered though after he just realized what he said. He coughed to clear his throat and looked away awkwardly. "I mean, it's nice seein' you again," He played with his feet in the dirt. Alice wanted to giggle, but she held it in. She had to take her new job seriously.

"Eric, I know this is going to sound weird, but just hear me out."

Eric stopped messing with the dirt and gave her his full attention.

"I need your help."

"Help? Are you in trouble?" Alice could heard the worry in his voice. That only made Alice's heart dance more.

"Sort of…" she trailed off. "I can't really explain it, but will you help me?"

For a moment she though Eric was going to say no. He was quiet, almost as if he had to really think about it. If he had to hesitate, then Alice knew she didn't have a complete hold on him. Trying to put on her innocent eyes, she gave him the most pleading puppy dog face she could muster. Luckily it seemed Eric was a sucker for it, because the next words out of his mouth were, "I'll help you with whatever you need."

Alice thanked him joyfully.

"I knew I could count on you!" She added in with her gratitude. Eric seemed to stand taller after the remark. He had a smile on that clearly stated he was happy about the complement.

Putting on his more macho exterior, he asked, "What can I help you with?"

Alice glanced only for a second at Doug who was right beside her. He was thankfully keeping his mouth shut so she could talk.

"I need help looking for someone."

"Who you looking for?"

"He's a…friend of mine," Alice had to think of something. If she were to tell Eric the truth, she had no doubt in her mind that the little crush he had for her would go away in seconds.

"A friend?" Eric sounded crestfallen. Alice just then noticed her hesitation could have been taken the wrong way.

"Not in that way," She saved herself. That seemed to lift Eric's spirits.

"So who's this friend? Is he from around here?"

"See, that's what I need help with. I'm not exactly sure where he is."

Eric looked away for a moment to think over the information he was given. He was going to need to know more if he wanted to help her.

"What's his name?"

"Zeek," She smiled, glad that she was finally able to remember Doug's friends name.

"Zeek?" Eric made a face, not sure of what to think of the odd name. Alice's smile faltered. She started to sweat when she remember that Zeek was just his nick name. She couldn't remember what his real name was.

"No, I mean…" Alice stuttered, giving Doug little glances to try and get him to tell her his real name. Doug seemed to pick up on her hints.

"Tyler Alchi," he told her.

"Tyler, Tyler Alchi is his name. Zeek is just his nickname," Alice recovered.

"Do you have an address or phone number from this guy?"

"I have nothing…" She was sad to admit. She should have questioned Doug more thoroughly about his friend. Then maybe she could have had more to tell Eric.

"A name isn't going to get you far," He crossed his arms.

"But are you implying it will get me somewhere?" Alice kept her hopes up. Alice saw the smile that crept onto Eric's lips.

"I know a guy who could help you out. He works down at the police station. All we would have to do is run his name through the system. As long as this Zeek feller lives in Texas, then his records should show up."

Alice was in awe of how easy it sounded. It was all too good to be true. She even believed that she would be able to find Zeek in one day. She would be home in time for more of Watari's special beef stew. She didn't waste any time agreeing to Eric's plan. He seemed like he knew what he was doing.

"That's amazing, that would be wonderful! Thank you!"

Doug even got excited. He was getting closer to finding his friend. He only wished that he would find him alive. Otherwise, he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he knew he was the cause of his friend's death.

"Well, what we waitin' for? Let's go!" Eric got just as excited.

* * *

The ride to the police station was full of laughter. Alice never knew Eric had such a great sense of humor, but he was witty and charming. Since the truck only seated two, Doug had to sit in the back, which gave Alice some room to breathe. She had Doug breathing down her neck for the past 24 hours and she was glad to finally catch a break. Eric was the perfect fresh air she needed after what had happened to her. Eric just seemed to make all her troubles insignificant. She had nothing to worry about with Eric around. By the time they reach the station, Alice had almost forgotten her little fight with Mello. She had been having such a great time that all her problems didn't seem to matter anymore.

"So how did you catch the runaway cows?" Alice chuckled as she exited the truck. Earlier Eric had been telling her the story of how his herd had somehow escaped their enclosure. They had trampled through the small town and caused all sorts of chaos.

"Had to ride my Annabelle and rope them." Eric came out next.

"Who's Annabelle?"

"My horse."

Alice giggled at the thought of Eric riding his horse with a rope swinging above his head. He was a true cowboy. When they reached the door, Eric held it open for her. The police station was nothing like Alice thought it would be. It was made to look like a log cabin, unlike the usual brick buildings that were around town. Big pillars of dark woods were laid across over each other. Held together by some sort of adhesive and nails. Just entering the building, she could already smell a forest around her. Pine needles and sweet saps filled the air.

"Welcome to the police station." Eric swooped his hand from left to right to gesture to the room inside. Alice scanned the room with curiosity. The room wasn't large to begin with, but there was door on the far right that must have opened up to the main part of the building. Alice just guessed they were only in the lobby. In front of the door on the far right sat a large empty desk. The place looked deserted. For a police station, it didn't look like much. There must have not been a lot of crime happening around Grapeland.

"Cute." Alice shrugged it off, not sure what else to say. Eric led her inside and brought her over to an empty chair. Just above it was a large buck's head mounted on the wall.

How charming….

"You're not allowed to go into the back, so I hope you don't mind waitin' out here."

"I don't mind." Alice waved him off and took a seat. That gave Eric a sigh of relief.

"Good, I'll just be a minute. I promise."

Alice watched Eric run back to the door behind the desk. The door shut behind him quietly and Alice was left alone to sit and wait. At least she was alone for a moment; Doug walked in moments later through the wall, not needing to use the front door since he wouldn't be able to open it anyway. He looked around the room for a second and then spotted Alice sitting by herself.

"Where did he go?" He asked her as he stared at the dead animal above her head. Alice would have gawked at it too, but it was just a decoration. She accepted any form art; including ones that were dead and mounted on walls.

"I wasn't allowed to go with him, so he went to go talk with his police buddy by himself."

Alice was thankful nobody else was in the room. She could talk with Doug freely without having to get the weird looks.

"Do you think he'll find anything?"

"That's a good question Doug. Why don't you tell me more about your friend?"

Doug took a seat next to her and rubbed the back of his neck. For somebody who seemed to adore their precious friend, he didn't talk much about him. Alice wondered if maybe it was because of a troubled past or his memory was shaken. There were times where she would have to help recover a ghost's memory. Their death had been so tragic that their memories about their past lives had been suppressed. Doug's death was pretty tragic, so his memory could have been lost.

"Doug?" She called out his name after he had been quiet for too long.

"I was involved with some pretty bad people as you probably already know."

Alice nodded her head, not wanting to disrupt his story.

"Zeek had nothing to do with those people. We traveled together. He was my travel buddy." Doug smiled at the thought, but his smile didn't last long. "I would buy from them. We had a monthly deal."

Alice internally gagged at the thought. Drugs were one of worst addictions to have besides smoking. She didn't even want to know what kinds of drugs Doug had bought from them. She was glad that Doug didn't elaborate any further about his addiction.

"Zeek never took any of the stuff I got. He was clean. I guess that's what I admired about him. He never judged me." Alice noticed the admiration in his eyes. It was a side of Doug she had never seen before. It made her want to find Zeek all the more.

"The day of my death I had done something I shouldn't have. I probably got Zeek killed for it." Doug's frown deepened.

"You don't know that Doug."

Doug didn't respond, but Alice could see the struggle in his eyes. He was already blaming himself. Thinking on her feet, she wanted to try and get Doug out of his depression.

"Why don't you tell me more about your friend instead? What did he like to do?" She put on a small smile. The question seemed to work pretty well. Doug lifted his head and started his spiel.

"Zeek was the coolest dude you could ever meet. He accepted everyone, and was willing listen to whatever you wanted to tell him. Our favorite thing to do together was play _MagicRelic." _

Alice paused his reminiscing to think over Doug's last few words. She had no idea what Doug was referring too. She never heard of _MagicRelic_.

"_MagicRelic_?" Alice was cautious with the word. She had a feeling she knew where the conversation was going.

"You never heard of _MagicRelic_? Man, it's the sickest online game. I play a knight. Zeek was the mage Elf. We ruled the Emerald Forest!"

"Emerald Forest…?" Alice felt the side of her mouth arch up. She was trying to keep a serious face, but the way Doug described the game almost sounded like something Matt would say.

"Yeah, that's where the Horgslack resides. You kill that beast and your king."

"Of course, the Horgslack." Alice's smile got bigger.

"The Sprites are the worst though. You have to watch out for them, otherwise they'll steal all your stuff."

"Thief Sprites, got it." She continued to play along.

"Every year my buddy Zeek and I would go to this convention down in Huston. We dress up as our characters."

"Oh my," Alice started to chuckle. She never knew Doug was so adventurous.

"We were pretty famous at the conventions. Being king of the Emerald forest is a big deal."

"I'm sure it is your majesty." She bowed slightly. Doug started to laugh a little. He never thought he would be able to talk about Zeek again, but here he was with Alice disclosing all his personal experiences. He was enjoying every moment of it, and he noticed Alice was too.

"Yup, August 24th; the first day of the _Kumocon_ in Houston. We would work on our costumes for months before we would go."

"August 24th?" Alice uttered under her breath. "Hey Doug, If Zeek was still alive, would he still go to this convention without you?"

"I wouldn't see any reason why he wouldn't. He's the complete ruler of the Emerald forest now, so he would have to go to the convention to stake his claim and rewards."

Alice wasn't entirely sure what Doug had meant, but an idea came to her that she was sure would work.

"Where is this convention held?"

"Kumocon is held in Houston. They usually host it in one of the large hotels."

Alice started to feel exhilarated. "Doug! Today is the 23rd! If we drive to Houston and go to the convention, then we could find him!"

Doug gasped and jumped up from his seat. Alice had never seen him so happy.

"I never thought of that! That's amazing!" He cheered, clutching his head as if all the information was giving him a head rush. "If today is the 23rd, then we need to get moving. You need a pass to get into the convention. It would be wise to buy one early."

"How much is a pass?"

"Depends on the type you want. General admittance usually runs around $70."

"Good lord. That much for a silly ticket?

"Silly? I'll have you know there is nothing silly about Kumocon." Doug got defensive. Alice wasn't convinced. But before she could say anything more, the sound of a door opening stopped her. She watched as Eric entered the room with a few papers in his hand. Behind him was an officer all dressed up in blue. He was most likely the friend Eric had been referring too. Turning away from Doug, Alice stood up to be level with the other two.

"Sorry about the wait." Eric stopped in front of her. His friend stood behind him and tipped his hat towards Alice.

"Howdy Ma'm."

Alice nodded in return, but was more interested in what Eric had found.

"I'm sorry, but we didn't get much." Eric started out. Alice would have been disappointed had she not already come up with a plan herself. "I'm concerned though with what we did find."

Alice pursed her lips together tightly. Behind Eric she noticed Dave was shifting his weight. He didn't look as if he had good news.

"Ma'm, I know it ain't my authority to tell you who should be your friends, but I don't reckon you should be looking for this Zeek feller."

"What do you mean?" She gave them an odd look.

"Tyler Alchi has had a Class A Misdemeanor for possession of Marijuana. He was incarcerated for about six months, but was released for good behavior. His license has been suspended twice and I can't count how many times he's been called for trespassing."

Alice's jaw literally dropped. She wanted to glare over at Doug and yell at him for saying that Zeek was clean. Clearly he had a record that disproved that. But a deal was a deal, and Alice had to find him. So with a deep breath, she began to spin her web of lies.

"I know that all sounds bad, but he's not a bad person." She flinched on her own words. She was only basing that theory off of what she had heard from Doug. Dave and Eric looked at each other unconvinced, but Eric heard the plea in her voice and knew not to press it any further. He had promised to help her anyway, and he never would go back on his word.

"Alright, I won't judge. But I wish there was more I could tell you. There wasn't any address, and all we got were his license plate numbers. Your friend doesn't seem stay in one place for too long."

"That's okay," Alice said with a little too much enthusiasm. It showed when Eric's eyebrows lifted up with surprise. She calmed herself down so she could explain properly. "I mean, I think I have an idea where to find him. Every year he goes to this convention down in Houston. Tomorrow is this convention. If I can get to Huston, then I'm sure I could find him."

"Houston?"

Alice nodded her head vigorously. Again, the two didn't look convinced, but Eric was willing to do anything for her. "That's going to be about a two hour drive from here."

"But with your help, I know I'll be able to find him." Alice batted her eyelashes. Eric's smile couldn't be helped. He was too deep under her spell.

"Uh, Eric, could I talk to you in privet for a minute." His friend Dave grabbed hold of his shoulder protectively. Alice almost lost her composure, wanting to glare at Dave for trying to ruin her moment. But she regretfully allowed the two their space.

"Sure, I'll just wait outside," she said with an innocent fake smile. By the time she was outside, she rushed to press her ear up to the wall to see if she could hear anything. Unfortunately the logs were too thick. She only had a visual of them from one of the windows. Hiding herself against the wall, she spied. From the way Dave was moving his hands around, he didn't look too happy about the situation. He was most likely trying to convince Eric to stop helping a complete stranger; probably warning him that she could be trouble, and that he shouldn't get involved with her. She wouldn't blame Dave for the warning. He was half right of course. Alice was just using Eric to get what she wanted. She had no intention of ever seeing Eric again after she found Zeek. For a moment, she even started to feel a bit guilty about it. Especially after seeing Eric's reaction toward his friend. He was upset, since the next thing she knew, Eric was storming out the building. She had to jerk away from the window so she wouldn't be caught trying to eavesdrop. Eric's frown disappeared after he saw Alice next to his truck.

"Is everything okay?" she asked as she watched him approach. He may have been smiling, but his eyes said a different story.

"Everything is fine Ace. Don't go worrying about me. We have to find your friend anyway."

Alice would have gone further to make sure he was okay, but her priority wasn't his feelings. It was finding Zeek, and if that meant Eric had to suffer a little for it, then she was willing to forget about his feelings. Sure she knew she was being a complete bitch, but she knew that she would never be able to see him again anyway. Better to disconnect with him sooner rather than suffer a painful breakup later.

* * *

L folded down his screen on his laptop and watched the green light fade away. The room was quiet, his bed made, and his floors spotless. Watari had come in earlier to clean up. He was incredibly thorough with his work. Looking out the smudged window, he watched as Watrai packed up the SUV. They were leaving soon to interrogate Joseph. Matt and Mello were downstairs helping as well. They would be ready in minutes.

Picking up his computer, L decided it was the best time to leave. His time was limited since he knew he only had five hours to complete the job. Making his way down the stairs, he saw Matt rush by him holding a box. He was out the door as soon as L reached the bottom step. Watrai walked in next and notice L at the head of the staircase.

"We are ready to depart sir."

L nodded his head to show that he acknowledged Watari. "Excellent, then let's go."

Heavy boots thumped from behind L. Mello stepped into the room, his anger clear to all. L was sure it was directed at himself; especially when Mello's glare reached his own neutral expression.

"Is something the matter Mello?" Watari asked, hoping maybe he could direct the angry away from L. It didn't work. Mello kept his eyes glued on L.

"Ace's transmission, it went out. Her signal can't be found anywhere."

Matt walked in at this point, his PSP in his hand. L's expression didn't change. In fact, it almost looked as if he were more relaxed.

"Her signal on her phone is gone," Mello continued with a growl. "The car's signal has been shut down, and her third tracer seems to have been wiped out as well."

L didn't give Mello an answer right away. He waited to make sure if Mello was done with his rant. He was right to have waited, because it wasn't long before Mello started up again.

"How the _hell_ do three tracers all shut down at once?" he fumed. "We designed them ourselves!"

Matt had to run over to Mello to calm him down. Mello tended to punch or kick things when he was angry, and Matt wasn't sure the barn house could take a beating from Mello. Watari had to cough deeply to get their attention. Mello had been making so much noise that they almost hadn't heard him. They quieted down to hear him out.

"I shut off all three signals."

Mello and Matt gapped at the confession Watari had made.

"What?" Matt was shocked.

"I ordered him to shut down the tracers." L finally got to enter in the conversation. Matt and Mello's shock were turned to L next.

"Why the _hell_ would you do that?" Mello started to yell.

"I have asked Ace to work on a secret project for me. I had to disarm her tracers for her privacy."

Mello's completion turned a few shades of red. L was prepared to hear him start screaming, but Mello never got the chance. Near entered the barn from the front door and interrupted.

"Excuse me, I know you are having an important discussion, but we are on a set schedule. If we don't leave for Houston now, then we are going to be late."

"You are correct Near, we need to leave now."

"Fuck that! Why did you turn off her tracer?" Mello didn't want to let it go.

"L," Matt hardened his voice. He was agreeing with Mello, and didn't want to end it there either.

"Mello, Matt," L hardened his voice as well. It was a lot more intimidating then Matt's. "I don't want you to question my motives anymore."

Watari moved in and got behind the two boys. Before they could say another word, he pushed them toward the front door so they could get moving. L was thankful that Watari was able to get them to move. Even if Mello went out kicking and screaming, Watari was still able to get him to go.

L sighed after they left. Near stayed by the front door, playing with his hair by twirling in circles around his fingers. It looked as if he wanted to say something, but L was tired of talking. Instead, he walked out the house with his hands in his pocket. He was dreading the car ride to Huston, but at least he got the front seat. That gave him some room away from Mello who was probably going to be sitting in the very back. Judging by how forceful Watari was with them, he was bound to punish them in some form.

* * *

The music was blasting through the speakers; the sound of _Shania Twains_ "I feel like a woman" made the inside of Eric's truck vibrate. Alice's voice could barley even be heard over the speakers as she sang along. Eric's laughter only mixed in with the drum beats and guitar solos. Doug was happy to be outside in the bed of the truck. He would have hated to be sitting between the two, since it was obvious they were going to act like fools the whole ride there.

Eric had never laughed so hard in his life. Alice was dancing in her seat and emphasizing every word with a fake accent she would describe as southern. To Eric, it sounded like something from Africa mixed together with Australian. But that didn't matter, because Alice seemed to pull it off beautifully.

"Hey Eric!" Alice shouted over the music, taking a break from her performance.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever ridden a bull before?"

Eric snorted out a whoop of laughter. "Real or mechanical?"

Alice popped a french-fry in her mouth before she answered. They had recently picked up lunch along the way. Alice was thankful to have gotten food in her stomach.

"Both!"

"I've only took on the mechanical ones. Never had the chance to get on a real bull!"

"I thought all cowboys rode on bulls!"

Eric started to laugh hysterically again. Alice's image of a cowboy was typical. It was heavily based off of the Medias depiction.

"Sorry darling, I only ride horses!"

Alice didn't catch on to her new nickname he gave her. With his accent, it sounded normal. She didn't give it a second thought. She was too busy stuffing French-fries in her mouth.

"Hey, hou lon haveb wbe ben drivbing?" Her mouth was stuffed. She almost thought she would have to repeat herself, but Eric seemed to understand her loud and clear, even with the music on full blast.

"For about 20 minutes!"

She swallowed her fries and took a drink of her soda to get the food down her throat faster.

"One hour and 40 minutes to go until we reach Houston!" She cheered. To celebrate, she picked up on the next song and started to dance. Swaying to the beat of _Toby Keith's _"Talk about me", Alice acted out the lyrics as if the song was made for her. It might as well have been since she had been getting all the attention so far. Even though she didn't feel like she could trust any of the Wammy boys, at least she still had her abilities to be independent. She was new at it still, but she was getting used to how things worked. As long as she was good at persuasion, then she was sure to get what she wanted. She didn't need L or Matt or Mello, or anybody. She didn't know what to think about Near, so she kept her dark thoughts away from him. She still wanted to believe he was on her side. But for the moment she had to stay away. She had a job to do, and she was sure as hell going to finish it!

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**KanrasLittleSerpent, One Hell Of A Stalker, kapibarasan, Bree Renee, ****alicelouise'x, ** **Bebbingtoe**, **Stormygio, ****dangerous ninga**, **Yumeno**, **Kira Kiwaseki**, **Saber Amane, ****superstrawberryL, ****freaksforever** (Merry Christmas to you too!)**, ****KiyUzumaki, ****XBloodMageRikaX, ****Bow Down To Gir, ****IAmAWhale **(Greeting from America!)**, ****and stormkitty. **(So many wonderful people to thank! I wish I could smother you all in a big hug, but I'm pretty sure most of you would call me out for sexual harassment. So I'll keep my hands to myself. I promise. =D)

**wolf neko:** I love made up words! Dr. Seuss is like my idol when it comes to that! Thank you so much!

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** Wow this one is hard. I can't even think of anything! What is it?

**Akatsukigirl456:** Thank you so much for writing an amazing review!

**givetherabbitthefreakintrix:** I loved your art! I swear I kept going to check it out like every minute of the day just so I could convince myself that it was still there. It's like a dream really. I am extremely thrilled that you love my story! Enough so to even draw something for it. I haven't thought about alternate stories with Mello or Matt being the love interest, but it sounds interesting. I don't think I would be able to do it though since I've come to love Alice and L being together. I would have to think up another character for Matt or Mello.

** AshweeWolfie: **I'm so happy to have gotten you to laugh out loud! Especially if it got you weird looks from your siblings! My life feels complete now.

**tenshi-no-akuma-81: **Ah yes, the all dreaded Mary Sue that haunts most of all Fan-Fictions. I'm touched that you would take your time to dig deep into my characters personality and analyze her status through the story itself. I completely understand where you are getting this Mary Sue feeling, but my intentions for her character were to be looked at as someone who gets what they want, whenever they wanted. Even if the scenario doesn't seem possible, Alice can do it. The purpose of this was to make it so when she does finally end up in a situation where she doesn't get what she wants, then its going to effect her all that much more. The climax of the story is coming up really soon, and Alice is going to be put in a situation where all hell is going to break loose and she will have no control over it. She will be as you put it "suffering" something quiet tragic. So Please continue to read and tell me what you think! I love your opinion and I rely on all my reviewers to tell me what they really think. Otherwise I wont learn a thing.

**tootsiepop101: **If you got emotional at those scenes, then you are defiantly going to hate me when the big problems start to emerge. At least I can promise you there will be giggles in-between the drama. I love humor too much. I'm really excited to know that you think I'm portraying the characters really well. I understand what you meant by L being a little OOC. I never expected him to be perfect since hes the love interest in the story. Thank you so much for all your kind words! I owe you my appreciation for getting me to work harder.

**Speckles719:** I don't want you to hurt yourself in a jumping accident, so be careful. I care about you too much to see you end up injured. I'm always happy to hear that my readers get weird looks from their friends or family when they read my story. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. =)


	38. A Three Way Split to Houston

*Dances*

I know how all of you love my crazy dancing skills.

So I decided to greet you with the _running man_.

I'd have to say, I wasn't that bad at it.

Only tripped once! HA!

Enjoy the 37th Chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_! (And yes, I do mean 37th even though it's technically the 38th. I don't count my Halloween chapter as one.)

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or anything remotely cool as that. *sad face*)_

* * *

**A Three Way Split to Houston**

"Okay, would you rather Snort half a shaker of pepper, or a live bee?"

"Who would be stupid enough to do either of those?"

"Just answer the question!"

"I wouldn't want to do either of them!"

"Eric, don't pussy out on me."

"Well if you're going to use that kind of language, then I guess I would snort the pepper. I'm allergic to Bee's."

"HA! I can't believe you would snort half a shaker of pepper! You'd be crying for days!"

"You didn't give me much of a picking darlin'." Eric sighed. "I wouldn' be crying either. I'm a Texan cowboy. We don't cry."

"My apologies, forgive me if I offended your Texas man pride."

"You've already done that by calling me a pussy."

Alice broke out in hysterical laughter. She snorted with every inhale. If she wasn't forced down by a seat belt, she would have surly been on the ground rolling, clutching her stomach from the pains of her delight. They had been playing _would you rather…_ for the past hour. Alice was usually the one to ask the questions since she seemed to have the most creativity between the two. Eric wondered how she could come up with so many different and disturbing scenarios. One of her worst questions had been about eating foul expired dairy products, and or gum under tables. Eric nearly puked at the thought of having to choose between the two. Alice was forbidden to come up with any more eating questions after that.

"Okay, it's your turn," She finally calmed down to a giggle.

"How bout a new game instead?" Eric hoped to change the entertainment to something less humiliating.

"Fine, but if it involves some stupid childish act like _I spy…_, then I will rethink your status as a tough Texan cowboy."

"Duly noted," Eric agreed. He then took his time to come up with something she would deem good enough to play. He wasn't quite sure what the difference was between the childish act of playing _Would you rather…_ and _I spy…_, but he was determined to come up with something that would please her odd knowledge of driving games and their maturity levels. Since_ I spy…_ was out of the question, he had another game in mind that he hoped would bring him closer to her. "Alright, how about we play a little game I like to call _I have never…_"

"How do you play?"

"It's easy," Eric started off, adjusting his hands on his steering wheel to make himself more comfortable. "First, pull out that bag of jerky from the glove compartment." Alice was skeptical at first, but when she opened up the glove compartment, there it was in all his dried meaty glory. It was a small bag of beef jerky just sitting there as if it was meant to be there for emergencies.

"Why do you keep a bag of beef jerky in your car?"

"In case I get hungry of course." Eric explained as if it was suppose to make sense. Alice just rolled her eyes.

"Okay, now what." She moved on, opening the bad of jerky to take a whiff. It smelled fresh, as if it had been roasted over a campfire.

"Now I'm going to tell you a statement that will start with the phrase, _I have never…_ Then you eat a piece of jerky if that statement is true for you. If it's not, then you don't get to eat a piece, and the next statement will be made by you."

"I think I understand," Alice wasn't quite confidant.

"Well let's start." Eric took a moment to think over something to say. When he got an idea, a smile crept onto his face. "Alright, I have never gotten into a car accident."

"Never?" Alice was amazed. Eric glanced her way with an eyebrow rose.

"Does that sound strange to you?" Alice ripped off a small piece of Jerky and stuck it in her mouth. Eric whooped out a laugh and shook his head.

"I was like sixteen when it happened. It wasn't entirely my fault." Alice tried to defend herself. It didn't work since Eric continued to laugh.

"Sure darlin', I believe yeah," he cackled.

"Okay, well I have never killed an animal."

Eric immediately reached out his hand and grabbed a piece of jerky. He chewed on it proudly which made Alice gasp.

"It's called huntin darlin'"

"You devil!"

"It helps feed the family." Eric wasn't offended. Alice pursed her lips together tightly, wanting to say more. But she kept her argument to herself. She knew there was no way she was going to win against his family feeding explanation. Turning back to face the road, she watched the landscape rush by.

"Well how about this? I have never kissed someone on the lips." Eric moved on. Alice returned to gasping once again.

"Really?" She couldn't believe what she had heard. Eric couldn't hold back the laughter that came next. He reached over and grabbed yet another piece of jerky.

"You're allowed to lie in this game," He chewed on the piece of jerky. Alice glanced down at the jerky with a bit of hesitation. Eric raised an eyebrow in her direction. "You have never kissed someone before?"

"Huh?" Her thoughts were brought back to reality. She had been thinking deeply about the past for a moment. "Oh no! I have kissed someone before. Actually, more than my fare share really…," she said with a contorted face, as if the answer pained her. For a moment, she felt guilty of the act. She honestly just admitted that she was a slut. She clutched the piece of Jerky in her hand and took a bite. The meat felt like a rock in her mouth. Eric noticed her sudden mood swing and got more serious. He hadn't wanted to upset her.

"I'm sorry if I brought up some bad memories," Eric assumed that was what she was upset about. Alice sighed and leaned her head back. A small smile took over her frown.

"You didn't." She shook her head. "I never have regretted any of my relationships."

"Oh? What about the relationship you're in now?"

_Smooth_…Alice thought, chuckling at Eric's very easy going transition to try and get her to admit that she was single. She decided to give him a break. He's been kind enough to drive her to Huston, so the least she could owe him was the truth, rather than lie and break his heart.

"I'm not seeing anyone at the moment." Alice saw the grin on Eric's lips. He looked as if he just discovered there was an endless supply of beef jerky in his glove compartment.

"You single? I find that hard to believe. You're too darn pretty to be alone." Alice saw the blush on his cheeks. It was absolutely adorable. He was so young and yet so charming. If only Mello had the decency to be this nice to her. Mello was the same age as Eric, so why was he an ass? L at first had been an ass, but at least he changed his ways. L was nice to her now after all his cruel sarcasm. Then there was Matt. Was he always going to be a pervert? Not to mention his indecency to keep his smart mouth to himself. Alice didn't like competition, and Matt was her biggest competitor in the house. To be frank, they were all asses. Even L. He may have not been lying to her, but she wasn't willing to take that risk to believe him. L was good at manipulation. She knew not to trust him so easily. Near was still a good kid in her book, but then again, she wasn't about to go to him for all the answers. Near was good at observation, but his advice was all but useless.

"You okay Ace?" Alice jumped in her seat. She had almost forgotten she was talking with Eric. Damn those Wammy boy's! They had finally taken over her mind!

"I'm fine! I'm fine," she repeated twice, only to convince herself. She then coughed to clear the knot in her throat. "So…I have never danced the Salsa before."

Eric looked troubled for a moment, as if he had to fight the answer. But his pride had lost, and he went to grab a piece of jerky. Alice pointed and laughed.

"No way!"

"When I was thirteen I went to my friend's _quinceanera_. She made me dance with her."

Alice continued her cackle; the thought of Eric moving his hips around was just priceless.

* * *

Near was observing numbers increase on the meter. They had stopped at a gas station to refill the SUV, and Near was watching the price tremendously rise. He was impressed by the amount of money they were going to have to spend to fill up the SUV. It was obviously not an eco-friendly vehicle. When the numbers finally stopped with an odd clicking noise, that's when Near knew they would be leaving soon. Glancing towards the small convenience store, he wondered if Matt and Mello would return in time. They had been in there for quite a while.

"Near," He heard L from the front seat. Near turned away from the window to give L his full attention. "The next few moments are going to look suspicious, but I need you to trust me from here on out. I'm going to need your full cooperation."

Near stared at the back L's head. Of course he was going to trust L, but a part of him felt some doubt. He disliked the doubt he was having and shook it off as fast as he could. He wasn't going to give into Matt or Mello's theories. They were wrong about L, and he only hoped they would see that for themselves. Near had tried to interject his opinion, but Mello had shot him down each time. There was no getting through to Mello, and if Mello wasn't going to listen, then Matt sure wasn't. There was nothing Near hated more than a lackey that followed without judgment.

"Of course I trust you," Near said with confidence. L exhaled loudly as if he had been expecting a different answer from him. Near was a bit taken aback by L's new shaken form. He still believed in L's ability to perform his job, but it looked as if he were growing tried.

"I'm glad to hear that, thank you." L was grateful. In fact, Near could hear in his voice that he was immensely grateful for the faithfulness. Near had never been thanked before by L, and it made him feel proud. As if he was a part of something bigger than the case itself, and he was the only reassurance L had to help him. There was Watari of course, but it seemed L just needed someone to believe in him, and Near was just that person to make him feel better. Near felt privileged for that role.

"You're welcome," Near smiled shyly. He couldn't help it. The pride was too great to hold back. L didn't say anything more after that, but he didn't have too. Watari was opening the driver side door seconds later.

"Sir, they have gone."

"Alright, we should keep moving then."

Near brought back his gaze to the convenience store. He knew who Watari was talking about, and that sadden him a little. He had hoped they would all stay together, but that was just wishful thinking. Mello and Matt were going to do what they pleased, and it didn't matter to them who they would defy. Especially since they had finally come to conclusion to go against L.

Watari got into the SUV and got the engine going. They were driving away soon after back toward the highway. Near twisted his hair with a bit more aggression than usual.

"Near?" L addressed him once again.

"Yes?"

L twisted his body so he could face Near. It was the first time that day that Near got to look into L's eyes. Immediately he saw an emotion that he never wanted to see. There was sadness and frustration. Most would never be able to pick up on those emotions from L since his blank stare had always been a good disguise, but Near had trained himself more thoroughly on human emotions. The simplest wrinkle or dilation of the pupils could tell him all he wanted to know about someone's emotional state. It was clear as day for Near to see all of L's feelings. But he didn't say a word to him. Instead he took the small computer from L as he held it out for him. It was already on, and the image on the screen was a map with two blinking red dots. One was stationary, while the other was moving.

"Those are Ace's coordinates. Well, as least the one moving is. The other one is the truck."

"What happened to her third signal?"

"It's been terminated. Her phone must have been destroyed."

"Is it wrong to assume that Ace was the one to destroy her phone?"

"Not at all. In fact, that was the assumption I have come to as well." Near was content to hear that. Knowing Alice, she probably got over emotional and destroyed it.

"So who do you believe she is with?"

"Judging by the story she had told us earlier about her little accident with the truck, I would have to say she is with this Eric fellow."

"Why would she be with this man?"

"I am just a curious as you are about that."

Near watched the signal travel down the line that was marked as a highway. They were already a long ways away.

"I can already see they are on their way to Houston like us."

"I had noticed that as well." L bit down on his thumb. Near glanced only for a moment to observe L's new position. It was yet another sign of L's frustration. Near took a minute to try and organize his thoughts. His thoughts about the case and about Alice's disappearance either had to be linked or completely on their own terms. There was no real way to know unless he got more answers from L, since it seemed L had more insight to Alice's actions.

"L," Near started out cautious. "Would the objective you gave Ace before have any relation toward her new found travels to Houston with some stranger?"

L was quiet for a moment, allowing only the sounds of the engine and the tires traveling atop the cement to be heard. Near waited patiently for an answer, but he did feel anxious. There was an interesting relationship happening between L and Alice, and there was nothing more Near wanted, then to dissect those feelings.

"I wish I could give you a confidant answer, but again, I'm not so sure." L had bitten down harder on his thumb. It was actually starting to hurt, but L only felt a numbness. Near would have continued to ask questions, but it was obvious to him that L wasn't going to give him anymore answers. When it came to L's and Alice secret relationship, L seemed to lock himself up tight. Near knew it was the end of their conversation from that point on. At least, until L was going to need his input once again.

* * *

Alice's eyes lit up. Outside her window was just pure magic. No more dirt roads with tumble weeds. No more cows or sheep huddled together eating grass. No more abandoned barns or shacks out in the middle of nowhere. They were finally in a city. A city with skyscrapers even! There were paved roads with sidewalks. There were plenty of people walking about in colorful clothes other than overalls and flannel shirts. There were even stores that Alice could recognize. Alice had never seen anything more beautiful in her life. She would have cried of happiness, but she didn't want to worry Eric. She had almost cried when she saw the designer stores.

"Hey," a whisper had made her jump. Next to her was Doug's head coming in through the back of her seat. She hadn't heard from him throughout the trip, so it was a surprise to see him finally show up. She had wondered if maybe he ran off on his own. But there he was, staring at her as if he expected her to look at him. She didn't respond to him since Eric was still with her, but she did cough quietly to show him that she heard. Doug was satisfied with that since he started to speak once more.

"The convention is going to be held in the Hampton hotel. I can't remember the location exactly, but as long as you look in some newspaper, then I'm sure you will be able to find it."

Alice nodded her head very slightly. She wasn't sure how many Hampton hotels there were, but she was confidant it wasn't going to be too hard to find. She may have been in a new city, but all cities had a similar layout to them. Alice considered herself to be an expert when it came to navigation in large cities.

"Welcome to Houston," Eric exclaimed with a large smile. He had been quiet for so long that Alice had jumped again. It was obvious that he was proud of himself for getting her to the place she needed to be.

"It feels like home," Alice sighed heavily.

"Do you know the hotel this convention is at?"

"One of the Hampton's, but I don't know which."

"Well we better start looken then." Eric's grin never left.

"If we find a newspaper, then I'm sure there will be an article about its whereabouts."

* * *

Mello leaned up against the window and watched the scene unfold past him like a flash of light with blurred colors. He wasn't focusing on anything particular except for the decision he had made. Matt was sitting next to him playing his silly game with headphones over his ears so he wouldn't disturb the other passengers on the bus. They were on a Greyhound that was taking them to Houston. They could have stayed with L, but Mello was fed up with trying to deal with him. He had lost faith in his boss and wanted to find the answers on his own. He had also wanted Matt to stay behind, but for some odd reason Matt was dedicated to following him. He would never understand Matt's unnecessary loyalty for him. He didn't deserve it. It was obvious to him that one day he was going to get Matt killed, and Matt certainly did not deserve a death not worth dying.

Matt knew about Mello's apprehensiveness towards his accompaniment. He wasn't about to let Mello go off on his own. Mello needed him, whether he believed that or not. He was taking a big risk as it was going against L, so Matt was going to make sure he at least had someone there who he could trust.

"Matt," Mello whispered under his breath. The bus was quiet as it is, so he had to keep his voice down.

"Hm?"

"Where is she now?" Matt clicked off his game and changed back to the tracer. He watched the red dot as it moved further into Houston, twisting along roads and slowing to a pace that almost looked as if they were about to stop somewhere.

"In Houston still, it looks like she's stopping at some café."

"Great," Mello grumbled angrily.

"Seems our girl has got a hot date tonight."

"Damn it."

"Would you like me to phone in some friends of mine?"

"No, I don't want to make a scene."

"What are you going to do about L?"

"He's not going to interfere with us. As long as we get to her first, then we'll be okay."

Matt agreed with that answer and leaned back in his cushioned seat. He exhaled slowly and tried to fight the urge of wanting a cigarette. It had been far too long since he's had one, and boy did he need one then.

* * *

Alice crossed one of her legs over the other. She stirred the ice around with a straw and watched as some of the condensation slid down the glass. Her ice tea tasted sweet. Eric was sitting across from her sipping on a Pepsi. He had on sunglasses that made him look mysterious. He had gone from urban cowboy to city boy in a matter of two seconds, just by wearing a new accessory. Alice was impressed. She thought he looked good with them on. But his appearance only distracted her for a moment. Her real goal was to scan the paper in her hand for any news of a convention being held at some Hampton. She opened it up to the front page and checked any of the little articles at the bottom. Alice had a feeling she wasn't going to see the convention as any of the newspapers main focuses. She frowned when there nothing. Sighing loudly, she turned the page with a bit of a struggle. The paper was large and incredibly flimsy. The sound of crinkling made her the entertainment for the café. Everyone was watching her with a bit of curiosity. She was making a fool of herself, and she knew it. But letting go of the judgmental stares, she continued the search.

Doug was pacing back and forth around their table, once in a while looking over her shoulder to help her. He wasn't helping really helping. It was more annoying than anything. But Alice couldn't say anything. Not with Eric and the others around. So she ignored him as well. Eric was content where he was, quietly drinking his soda, eying the others in the café. He had wanted to help Alice earlier, but she was determined to find it on her own. In reality, she was afraid to tell Eric what kind of convention it was. She had the impression that Eric wasn't the type to play games or cosplay in very flamboyant outfits. She wasn't really sure how he was going to react when they finally did find the place, but as long as he got her there before running away from her crazy ass, then at least she would have the satisfaction of knowing she was in the place she needed to be.

"Did you find it yet?" Doug asked once more, stopping behind her and looking down at the paper. That had to have been the third time he's asked, and once again, Alice didn't answer him. She had wanted to hit him instead, but that would have looked much more odd then if she had just answered him. So she kept her emotions under control by playing with the straw in her drink. The little stress relief was enough to get her to turn the page without ripping it.

"Did you find it?" Eric leaned forward. Alice gripped the paper with her nails and heard the paper rip from under her clenched fist. Luckily Eric didn't seem to hear the tare. She took a deep breath and slowly lowered the paper to give Eric a forced smile.

"Nothing yet."

"If you want, we could just locate every Hampton hotel in Houston and search each one of them"

Alice shook her head and frowned. "I'm sure there will be some sort of announcement in this paper. Just give me a little more time."

Eric nodded his head and leaned back in his chair. His drink was already halfway gone. When Alice fumbled to the next page, that's when Doug got loud. He pulled up right next to her hear and started to shout.

"THERE! IT'S THERE!"

Alice dropped half the paper and covered her ear that Doug yelled in. She winced painfully and leaned away to try and get away from him.

"Bloody hell!" She growled. Eric sat up straight and pulled off his sunglasses so she could see the worry on his eyes.

"Are you alright Ace?"

"Just bloody perfect." She snapped the paper open. She then roughly slammed it on the table. Eric had to scoot back in fear the table would be pushed on him. She jabbed her finger on a tiny article at the very bottom of the paper that had a headline declaring an event happening at the Hampton hotel. It was the article about the convention, and it had the address Alice needed.

"You found it?" Eric was cautious to lean forward, but he wanted to read the article she pointed to. Alice took the paper away before he could.

"Yes, I have the address. We need to leave now to go buy tickets."

"Don't you want to eat something first?"

Doug started to whine, "You can't, tickets are probably going to be sold out soon!"

"We can't," Alice answered for Doug since it was obvious Eric couldn't hear him. "We need to buy tickets now or else they are going to be sold out."

"What kind of convention is this?" Eric was in awe.

"No more talk, we leave now!" Alice got up and left some money on the table. Eric had to jump out of his seat and run just to catch up with her.

* * *

"Tell me the address again," Eric asked, watching the traffic in front of him.

"12909 Northwest Freeway"

Eric watched the signs above him and waited for the exit he needed. Alice felt her heart race. They were so close. She fidgeted in her seat and once in a while looked in the review mirror at Doug who was sitting in the bed of the truck. His was leaning far out to try and see ahead, so occasionally Alice would see him pass through a car. It was an odd site to see, his head passing though a minivan or semi truck.

"I see it." Eric got excited. Alice leaned forward. She craned her neck to see the top of a building that was behind the hill they were coming from. They were traveling down toward a parking lot in which was already full of other cars. It amazed Alice how packed the place was. The convention wasn't even until tomorrow. Eric whistled at the amount of people there were. Outside the building there were little pockets of crowds, huddled together. What made her pale though was what they were wearing. Alice had never seen costumes so elaborate before. Not even Fabron had anything like what some of them were wearing; and that was saying something.

"Ace…" She heard Eric hesitate. She knew what was coming next, and she only hoped it wouldn't be something bad. "What kind of convention is this?" Eric parked in a spot in the back. It was only one of few that were left. Alice didn't even think they would find one. When Eric looked over at her, she gave him the most innocent smile she could muster.

"A fun convention?" She tried to sell it.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**KanrasLittleSerpent, Bree Renee, ****Cassiopeja87**, **Stormygio, ****VerityEldrich**, **IAmAWhale, ****XBloodMageRikaX, ****Saber Amane, ****tootsiepop101**, and Honakaa-Honami. (HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL! I know it's a little late...but...that's how I role...I guess. ANYWHOSSELS, I lov...er...worshi...uh...like you all in a way that would no way incline some sort of twisted illegal devotion. That sounds dirty, doesn't it? Wow, I feel like I'm getting worse at this whole keep-your-undevoted-love-to-yourself thing. I'm just grateful you all look past that creepy stalker side of me and continue to read my story. THANK YOU!)

** freaksforever:** Awwwwww, you would glomp me? That makes me so happy! Mmmmm, soup. That sounds tasty. And thank you, I tend to like to come from the left field. The right field just feels so cliche sometimes.

** Yumeno:** Pression is a physical act. You would probably want to use an adjective like, climatic pressure or heavy. As for the French fan-fiction you described, all I have to say is "wow". I'm sure not all French fan-fictions are like the one you read, so I wouldn't give up hope just yet. But I'm happy to see that my story is one you are willing to return to again and again! Your English is wonderful, so no more apologizing for it. Thank you so much! xD

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **It's incredibly vague which makes it near impossible to think up an answer, but I'm going to try my best! I must say, if a riddle has me thinking this much, then it has to be a good one. =D Alright...is it a...snowflake...pine cone...COTTON CANDY!...that's wrong huh? Okay I give up once again, what is it?

**alicelouise'x:** Aw! Just the thought of you thinking about sending me L makes me so happy! It takes a lot of willpower to even admit that you were thinking about sending him to me, even though I know how much you adore him. I am truly humbled by the thought of the offer. xD

**wolf** **neko: **Ohhhh! What animals would they be? I'm dying to know! By the way, 3 hours? Damn girl! You a fast reader!

**xxxIDKanimexxx: **Welcome to the North Pole! I hope Santa doesn't mind that I took over his workshop. Needed the extra space really. I do not listen to Vocaloid, but after reading your review, I went straight to the internet to search for the songs! They ROCK! xD I can't get them out of my head...and I would be honored to rule the world with you. LET'S DO IT! Muhahahaha!

**Honakaa-Honami: **xD Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I'm so happy to know that I'm capturing L's character.

**Wanwan chan:** Yay! You like Alice! That makes me so happy! No need to apologize for you so called "rant". I don't know why you would call it such. It was poetry to my ears. Your reviews will never be considered a rant to me. August 9th? THAT'S SO COOL! Now I feel like we should celebrate our birthdays together. xD


	39. The Queen of the Emerald Forest

Greetings Fan-Fiction lovers of all ages!

Welcome to the 38th chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

I'm pretty sure I lost consciousness when I saw how many reviews I had.

My head is throbbing, but I seem to have this weird smile on my face that wont go away.

Oh well! xD

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.)_

* * *

**The Queen of the Emerald Forest**

The grand entrance to the hotel was not only filled with the herds of flamboyant overly excited teenagers and young adults, but decorated booths as well. Each had a sign above the tables that stated upcoming events and performances. There were some lines as long as out the front entrance doors to sign up for these so called events. Alice's only purpose was to get in there and get the tickets, then get out. She needed to find the booth that sold the entrance tickets, and she needed to find it fast, or else she feared Eric might be sucked away into the crowd of overly obsessed convention goers. In truth, Alice had nothing against the people who came to those types of conventions. In fact, she thought it looked like fun. But seeing Eric among the crowd only just proved how out of character he was. He was dressed in his jeans and a tucked in flannel shirt. His cowboy hat was even more of an eyesore in that hotel than anywhere else. Had he not been wearing his sunglasses, Alice wouldn't have been surprised to see the fear in his eyes. She was corrupting him even more just by bringing him to the convention. There were women there who wore less than her, and she was in her short shorts and tight shirt with the sparkly vest.

But even more interesting was the fact that out of the entire crowd there, it was sad to see that she and Eric were the ones to stand out. Because of the "everyday" clothes they were wearing, it seemed that they were deemed no longer the normal ones in the crowd. To have fit in better, they should have purchases costumes. But alas, Alice had to work with what she got, and if that meant standing out in a crowd, then she was just going to have to suck it up and enjoy the staring. Her ass looked good in those shorts anyway, so she was bound to get stares eventually anyway.

"Hey Ace," Eric grabbed the back of her arm. Alice stopped and let him pull her aside to try and free themselves from the onlookers as best they could. Hiding behind a pillar seemed the only place they could, but it didn't ease any of the gawking. It was as if those people had never seen a blonde bombshell and hot muscular cowboy before.

"What is it?" she asked after they both felt they were safe. Slowly, Eric removed his sunglasses. Alice was surprised to see his expression didn't look as terrified as she thought it would. In fact, he looked rather calm.

"If you don't mind me askin', but what kind of convention is this?"

Alice was a little bit dumbfounded. She thought the cosplay enough would have given that away, but it seemed Eric was so innocent that he didn't even know about the wonders of Japanese induced fictional literature or animation. Nor the exciting world of gaming in which she was sure Eric would at least know a little about. Of course there were also some American comic lovers among the crowds she would have hoped Eric would know about, but it seemed it was all brand new to him. It was truly sad how much she was going to corrupt his innocent Texan cowboy mind. She even had a moment of guilt where she felt bad about bringing him with her. He could have gone his whole life without knowing about any of it, and yet here she was immersing him with the drug and forcing him to be with dealers. She just had to keep reminding herself that it could have been worse. She could have ended up in a drag-queen bar with a bunch of muscular men in mini tight dresses. It was just a good thing that this Zeek guy wasn't a drag-queen. She hoped…

"This is a…," Alice had to choose her words carefully. She didn't have time to explain, so she needed to use familiar wording for him to understand. "It's a…convention for people who enjoy fantasy…" her spiel seemed to drag along. She could tell that Eric wasn't understanding her, so she needed to come up with a better answer. "You know, a convention for people who like make-believe…" That's when Alice spotted a wizard hat on somebody's head and got the example she needed. "Like Harry Potter! They dress up as wizards and other mythical beings!"

"This is a convention for Harry Potter?"

"No, no. This is a convention for fantasies, like Harry Potter or other popular mythical fads," she stumbled on her explanation. She knew it wasn't a very good one, but luckily Eric was a gentleman and knew when to just accept a simple answer. They had to buy their tickets anyway, and Alice couldn't possibly wait any longer. Mainly because Doug had found his way inside the hotel and was waving his arms back and forth in front a booth to get her attention. Fortunately he was dead, so nobody could see him, otherwise she was have been embarrassed by his behavior.

"I see the booth over there!" she called out to Eric over the noise. He followed her through the crowd, making sure to keep an eye on her so he wouldn't lose her. When they both made it towards the booth, Alice was slightly surprised to see there wasn't a line. There was a chubby young man with hair longer than her own, sitting behind it. His hair was in a pony tail and looked greasy. She frowned at the site and quietly panicked to herself. If the booth was as empty as it was, then that must have meant they were too late. But before she went to go and ask, she turned to Eric and pushed him back away from the booth a bit so he was out of way, before the guy behind the booth spotted him. She didn't want to be seen associated with a gorgeous cowboy if she was going to pull off her next plan.

"Don't we need our tickets?" Eric wondered, liking the sensation of her hands on his chest.

"I need you stay right here and let me do the talking."

"Are you sure you don't need my help?"

"Trust me, you are going to be more of a hindrance then helpful if you came with me."

Eric gave her a quizzical look, not sure what she was implying, but he let her go none the less. He recognized growing pride when he saw it. It seemed Alice liked doing things on her own, and she had too much pride to accept help from others. Just another trait he found to have in common with her.

"Alright," he agreed. She gave him a smile and then started back toward the booth with the plump young man sitting in the plastic chair. He was wearing a black shirt that looked too tight for his round belly and his goggles above his head showed that he was attempting to dress up in cosplay as well. It was subtle, but he seemed to be proud of his little accessory. When he saw her approaching his booth, he immediately dropped the toy figure he was holding and scrambled to make the papers around him look presentable. Alice's lips spread into a smirk. It was like corning her prey to feast upon its flesh.

"Excuse me," she hotly purred, leaning her hands down on the booth, exposing a little bit of her chest while her butt sticking out. She had curves and she knew how to use them. The guy behind the booth momentarily stared down her shirt and gulped. He started to sweat more, and that's when Alice knew she had him.

"Y..y..ess…s?" He stumbled horribly with his response. His voice was nasally, which only made Alice smirk even more.

"You wouldn't happen to have any more tickets for this convention would you?" She tilted her head to the side, letting her hair jump and shimmer. The lighting was perfect. The guy cleared his throat and rummaged around his piles of paper to see what he could find.

"Uh…" He sounded desperate. She watched him carefully as he moved around the articles clumsily. Some of the papers even managed to fall to the floor. When he seemed to finally stop his sporadic search, he took in a deep breath to prepare himself. "I'm r..re..really sorry, but w..ewe… seem to b..be s..so..sold out."

That was not what Alice wanted to hear. Standing next to her, Doug watched in amazement at the whole ordeal. He had been watching from the beginning, not surprised to see that she was ignoring him. She obviously had practice with avoiding eye contact with the dead when there were others around. But watching her was enough entertainment in itself. Using everything god had blessed her with, she leaned more forward and put her elbows on the table, exposing even more of her cleavage. It got the guy in the chair to scoot back a nudge.

"Could you check again? I would hate to miss this convention. I have this amazing outfit I wanted to wear and it wouldn't be appropriate outside the festivities of the hotel."

Alice saw his face turn from pale to beat red. She knew she was just using her looks to get by, but she didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't as if she had the whit L had to get away with anything.

"I'll go check one la...last t...time," his stutter was getting better. Alice was impressed with his composure. Just when she thought he was going to faint, his complexion starts to come back. Doug leaned close to Alice and watched the man behind the booth search through the papers once again. Watching the man gave him an idea.

"Alice," he turned to the blonde next to him. She glanced at him only for a fraction of a second. "If the tickets are already sold out, that doesn't mean they won't have guest passes. They usually only give them to famous voice actors or winners of some competitions. Zeek and I would always be honored with guest passes since we are the kings of the Emerald forest."

Alice thought it over for a moment, finally enjoying Doug's help. She was afraid if there wasn't going to be a plan B, then she was going to have to show a little more skin. Luckily Doug had come up with a better plan B then her own. When the guy returned with a napkin to wipe his forehead, he gave a nervous frown.

"I'm truly sorry. We don't have…" But Alice stopped before he could finish.

"What about a guest pass?"

"Pardon me?"

"Guest pass, you could give me a guest pass." She smiled brightly.

"Guest passes are only eligible for those who have prize winning certification and the famous voice actors who visit."

Alice frowned at his statement, now just realizing his stutter was gone. She was losing her control and she needed to gain it back.

"Are there any competitions I could compete for to get one?" she slurred her words to make herself sound sexier. He was back to stuttering in no time.

"Uh…um…y..you could dr…draw, or you c..could uuh…"

Doug rolled his eyes. "Tell him you're the new queen of the Emerald forest derived from the online MMORPG of _MythicRelic,_"

Alice wanted to give Doug an odd look, but she stopped herself before she could. Instead, she did what she was told.

"I'm sorry for not introducing myself first, but I am the new queen of the Emerald forest."

"You mean the Emerald forest from _MythicRelic_? You're _THE_ LoveHearts?"

Alice gave him a nervous smile and crossed her arms. She straightened herself out to make herself look taller. If she was going to be a queen, she might as well act as proud as one.

"That's right, I'm LoveTarts."

Doug groaned. "LoveHearts."

"LoveHearts," Alice corrected herself quickly, keeping up her smile. The guy started to nervously laugh, standing up from his chair in the process. He looked extremely excited to see her, which made her incredibly uncomfortable.

"I can't believe it's you!" He sounded like he needed an inhaler. "Nobody believed you actually existed. Doug had never brought you here before, so we all thought he was just making you up!"

"Oh, I'm real." She desperately wanted to look at Doug. From the corner of her eye she could vaguely see a sly smirk upon his face. He was obviously proud of this small achievement, even though it was a complete lie.

"Well in that case Miss Hearts, please accept your guest pass." The chubby man pulled out a blue laminated card with a string tied around two holes. It fit around her neck nicely, having big bold letters written across the front that spelled out GUEST.

"Thank you," she said nicely.

"It's an honor to meet you your majesty." He bowed to her. When he wasn't looking at her, she gave him an odd look that she had been holding back. She coughed uncomfortably and nodded to him. She thankfully waved goodbye and hurriedly made her way back to Eric. Along the way Doug walked with her, not caring if he walked through people in the process. Since the crowd was so large and noisy, Alice didn't mind talking to him.

"Hey Doug, who's TartHearts?"

"LoveHearts," he grumbled annoyingly. "And she's a character I created. I wanted a queen, but nobody was good enough, so I made the perfect woman."

"So that guy wasn't lying when he said she wasn't real." Alice smirked. She was pretty sure it wasn't the fact that nobody was good enough for him.

"Well she's real now," Doug laughed. Alice lost all her playfulness when she realized what she got herself into.

"Oh balls," She huffed. Doug's smile never faltered. Alice walked faster in hopes that she would lose him. She couldn't touch him, so avoiding him was her only other option. When she finally spotted Eric where she left him, she was shocked to find that he was surrounded by girls; all of them dressed up in some old renaissance apparel. Their dresses were tight around their waist, pushing up their breasts and making them slightly bulge out. Their skirts touched the floor, and each in different dark cool colors. Alice rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

"Awe come on! What's so special about Cowboy Woody over there?" Doug groaned with her. She had sadly not lost him in the crowd. She shook her head and proceeded over to the small gathering. Coming closer, she overheard a little of their conversation.

"So you help your family with the ranch?"

"That is so cool, do you ride horses?"

"I love your hat, it's so urban!"

Alice didn't miss the red upon Eric's cheeks. He also had a smile, and it was clear to Alice that he was soaking up all the complements. Stepping in to break the little the circle, Alice made her presence known.

"He's a real cowboy Casanova isn't he?" She gave Eric a sly smirk.

"Ace!" He seemed surprised by her return. The other girls looked more annoyed then anything.

"You're going to have to excuse me ladies," Alice continued. "But Mr. Casanova here is with me." She finished, crossing her arms in the process.

"And who are you, his mother?" One of the larger busty girls snapped. Alice wasn't intimidated in the least. In fact, she found the situation rather amusing. Taking a step forward, she got right into the girls face. Alice had no trouble breaking the gap that separated them, but it sure made the girl uncomfortable. Showing more teeth in her smile, Alice made it clear to her opponent that she was enjoying her discomfort.

"Listen love, it's obvious to me, and certainly everyone else, that you crave the sort of attention you probably didn't get from your daddy or mommy. Judging by your fake tits and pounds of makeup, you come to these conventions to find a one night stand and demean any girl that you find to be competition. I would suggest backing off now, or you will undoubtedly regret it later on when I have humiliated you by stated my last remark out loud for everyone to hear."

Both of the busty girl's friends jumped behind her, their jaws dropped to the floor. Their leader had on the same expression. Her eyes were as large as saucer plates. Alice merely waved her hand to shoo them away, glad to see her bitchy side was still effective.

"You slut!" The busty girl scoffed. Alice didn't mind since the busty girl and her friends had started to walk away anyway. It was just a last attempt to insult her, and Alice found the small endeavor to be pitiable. Clapping her hands together as if to clean away the dust, she turned to Eric was a triumphant smile.

"I got us in. Shall we go find a place for the night?"

Eric was utterly speechless. Doug on the other hand was in the background rolling on the ground laughing hysterically.

* * *

L opened his laptop and watched the screen come to life. Watari came up from behind him and set a tea cup down on the desk where L was sitting. The smell of jasmine made the small hotel room feel less stuffy then it already was. Sitting on the queen size bed in the back was Near. He had a computer in front of him as well, though his focus was mainly on the tracer L had handed him a while back. He had been watching Alice's movements ever since he first found out her attempts to run off on her own. It was his job to make sure she didn't get into any trouble, which included keeping track of her purchases. The only worry Near had was whether or not she would buy any plane or train tickets. They couldn't afford to let Alice get too far away; otherwise they would be forced to bring her back against her will. Near did not want to see Alice angry at him for ruining her so called _fun_.

"Thank you Watari," L nodded to his old friend. Watari just responded to him with a warm smile and went off to pour a cup for Near. Grabbing the small spoon that was buried under a little pile of sugar, L started to pour scoops of sugar into his cup.

"Ace has finally become stationary," Near announced. He was staring at the little red dot that was blinking over the Hampton Hotel. Judging by the recently purchased room service, she was planning to stay the night there.

"Good." L acknowledged Near. "If she starts to move again, then please inform me."

"Yes, or course," Near obliged.

"We now only have one hour for the interrogation. The microphones have been connected. Near, I would like you to observe. Please keep note of any confessions or involuntary facial expressions."

"Yes sir." Near started to type on his keyboard. He set the tracer aside for the moment and focused more on the new video image that was being transmitted to his laptop. The video was of a large African American man sitting on a wooden chair set behind a rather shabby aluminum table. His hands were chained together, locked onto the table so he didn't have the choice to move very far. The room was surrounded by white walls. If the camera wasn't pointed above the door, then it would have surly looked as if he was trapped. Above the man was the only light source in the room, and it was shining down bright above him onto the table. His head was leaning close to the table, so Near couldn't see what he might have been feeling. But judging by his hunched over shoulders and the veins popping around his hands, Near could assume that he was angry.

"Are you ready?"

Near nodded yes to L and then watched him put on a headset with microphone. Typing for only a moment, it wasn't long before L started to speak.

"You're going to answer a few questions for me." He was straight to the point. The man chained to the table snapped his head up and looked around the room. The voice had come from some unknown source, and it sounded distorted.

"Who the _fuck_ are you?"

"My name is of no concern to you. I would like you to confess the location of your dealings."

"I ain't going to tell you a fuckin' thing!" His voice was horse and rough. It was obvious to Near that he was a smoker. He had a nervous twitch with his fingers. He wondered how long it's been since his last cigarette. He had seen similar signs from Matt when he went a week without a smoke, so basing it off of his observations from his friend, it had to have been at least five days.

"Pity, this confession could be beneficial for you."

That seemed to intrigue the man chained up, but he wasn't ready to give up fighting back yet. Instead of using his words, he spit off to the side and glared down at the chains around his wrists.

"Since you seem to enjoy your more animalist instincts, I'm going to offer to you the most basic necessitate of those instincts."

"What the _fuck_ are you talkin' about?"

"I have evidence of the five murders you've committed, and if I am not mistaken, Texas is a state that fully endorses the right to execute criminals. Since no amount of legal aid is going to help you, I'm am certain you will be declared guilty and sentenced to death." Near watched that mans form shrink. His chest had stopped rising and falling, and he noticed sweat starting to form on the top of his bald head. L's strategy was working. "If you confess your location and a few names of your partners, then I can guarantee you a life in imprisonment, rather than death row."

There was a moment of silence where everything seemed to just stop. The man wasn't moving and L was hunched over in his seat, stirring the last spoonful of sugar he had put in. Near was impressed by how calm L was. He was giving this man a choice between life and death, and yet there he was preparing his cup of tea in the process as if they were making small talk. Coming back to the screen, Near observed the mans nervous twitch turn more violent. He clenched his fists tight together and then relaxed them repeatedly for about five minutes. L took a sip of his tea while he waited. Finally the man seemed to snap, sick of hearing the silence in the room.

"I ain't no fucking rat!"

"I suggest thinking this deal over more before you give me your final answer. I will give you one day. I hope you reconsider. Enjoy the rest of your evening Joseph." And with that, L had disconnected, clearing his screen of the video imagine and Near's. Near was a bit disappointed to not be able to see the man expression after L's last remark, but he trusted L enough not to mull it over. If it would have been necessary, then L wouldn't have disconnected his own transmission. There was only one inquiry Near had about L's interrogation.

"What about his last victim? I thought you were going to bring up Douglas Brown?"

"I cannot get ahead of myself. I am already asking far more then what his pride is willing to offer. We must wait first to see what he will do before we can move any further."

Near accepted that answer and started to twist a portion of his hair. Glancing only briefly at the tracer, a small frowned came upon his lips.

"How troublesome," he sighed. "Her transmission has been terminated."

"It was only a matter of time before they would interfere." L bit down on his thumb.

* * *

Mello cringed as the bitter taste of alcohol ran down his throat. Setting the glass down on the counter, he watched the ice clink together as it floated around in caramel colored liquid. It may have tasted bitter, but the stiffness in his muscles had long since been eased out. He was thankful to finally find a place he could relax. Matt sat on the stool next to him, messing with his PSP and a cigarette in his mouth. Mello could tell that Matt had finally calmed down as well. Taking another swig of his drink, he cherished the bitter sting in his throat.

"You're not planning to get wasted tonight are you?" Mello heard Matt chuckle. He gave his friend a cold glare.

"I'm not an idiot."

"You could have fooled me." Matt exhaled a stream of smoke. Mello growled and slammed his empty glass on the counter. The bartender had jumped from the sudden outburst. Matt snickered and held up one of his hands to protect himself. "Easy now," he attempted to calm him. Matt wasn't surprised that it didn't work, so he went with plan B. "I got Ace's tracer to shut down." He held up his PSP to Mello. On the screen was the map of Houston, and there were no more red blinking dots. Mello's sneer lessened as he turned away with a grunt.

"At least you're good for something,"

"I am only here to serve you my master." Matt put out his cigarette with a smirk. "So what's out next move?"

"We wait until morning. We need to wait for convention to start."

"I wonder why she chose to go to this convention…" Matt pondered, looking over a website he had found about _Kumocon. _When he saw the venue for the games that were being celebrated, he got excited. "No way! They are having a royal battle in the Dome of Leagues tomorrow!"

"Please tell me it's an actual fight and not some silly game of yours."

"_MysticRelic_ is not some stupid game. It's a rush that pits you against some of the most challenging and adrenalin filled quests you could ever imagine. The design makes the world look as if you were there yourself. It fulfills almost every sense of the body and leaves you under an illusion that you are indeed the hero you've created."

"Do you hear yourself right now?"

"You just wouldn't understand the feeling of being a great warlord master like myself Mello. I feel sorry for you."

"Shut the fuck up!"

* * *

Alice placed her newly purchased outfit on the bed to get a better look at it. She placed her hands on her hips and admired the synthetic material. Eric sat on the other bed and sighed, tired from having just returned from shopping. Alice had forced him to come along with her to buy clothes and a disguise for the convention. She certainly didn't want to stand out among the cosplayers, so she had to quickly come up with an appropriate outfit. Doug had to help her at first since she had never shopped for such attire, but eventually she found one she was excited to wear. Doug approved as well, deeming the outfit as _Queen-of-the-Emerald-Forest-worthy_. Alice would have rather not had Doug's approval, but she had to follow along. It was the only way to find Zeek and reunite Doug with his friend.

"I'm going to pass out," Eric laid his head on the pillow.

"You are welcome to rest now. Thank you for coming with me."

"It was my pleasure. I couldn't let a pretty gal like you wonder the city alone."

"You're getting better at the sweet talk Casanova."

Eric gave Alice one of his famous smiles, pleased by her complement.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" He then moved on.

"I go find Zeek."

"Are you going to need my help for that?"

"I'll be fine on my own, you can enjoy yourself." Alice shrugged.

"It won't be much fun without you."

Alice rolled her eyes and tossed one of the decorative pillows at Eric. He blocked the attack using his right arm as a shield.

"Go to sleep Casanova. We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Alright." He held up his hands to show that he was giving up. Alice pulled the outfit off her bed and set it down on the arm chair. Grabbing her new set of pajamas, she rushed to the bathroom to go change. Alice closed the door behind her and locked it just to be safe. Eric may have been a southern gentleman, but all men's thought processes tended to all be the same. Well, most were. She couldn't truly say that about some of the Wammy boys; L especially with his odd stare and little OCD habits. Alice frowned at the thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. She wondered what was going to happen to her after she found Zeek. L was certainly not going to be happy with her taking off like she did, and she had only just recently mended their broken friendship. There was also Matt and Mello who infuriated her. She wasn't sure what she would do if she were to confront them again. She of course missed them, but at the same time, hated the thought of having another argument. Running away seemed to be the only safe place for her. By now she was getting pretty good at it too. Exhaling loudly, she turned away from her sad stare. She had to stop putting herself in these moods. Otherwise, she was going to lose focus on what she was really there for. A ghost had asked for her help, and she was going to fulfill her promise.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**DANGEROUS-NINJA, xxxIDKanimexxx, KanrasLittleSerpent, kapibarasan, ****Bree Renee, ****VerityEldrich**, **MikaUchiha666, ****Yumeno**, **I Am Pandora**, **Speckles719**, **alicelouise'x**, **XBloodMageRikaX**, **wolf neko**, **theHare, and ****insert-mello-related-name-here. **(Such beautiful and heartfelt reviews! You all just make me smile in a way that no other random set of online fan-fiction lovers could!)

**tootsiepop101: **I'm sure your story will be just as good, or even better then my own! I'm going to cheer for you! I'm honored to have influenced you to write. Again, I have received the motivation from you to continue writing! So Thank you from the bottom of my heart!**  
**

**Akatsukigirl456:** FAN ART! I LOVE FAN ART! I can't wait to see it! Please take as much time as you like. I don't mind the wait. Have a safe move!

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **I have a few guesses, but I'm not sure if any of them are right. Here I go anyway...Is it a star maybe? Or a cloud? Or is it the sun? Though I'm sure if the sun fell, we would all be in some deep shit. Forget the last one and I'm just going with the first two. The Alice riddle was awesome! I should have known!**  
**

**freaksforever: **It's Houston. I misspelled it in the 36th chapter, which was incredibly stupid of me. Cities should never be misspelled! Bad author, bad! Thank you for pointing it out. I made sure to fix it as fast as I could!**  
**

**Stormygio: **CUPCAKE! *Gobble* Hurs yur chabptor...*Crumbs spill from mouth***  
**

**SofaTofu: **Being a lurker isn't bad. I love when my stories are stalked! But I am proud to see you have emerged, and with such high praise too! I am touched. I don't deserve such kind words! You flatter me. Thank you so much!**  
**

** Dots'n'Spots: **Oh my darling, you have truly left me in awe. You have made me the happiest author to ever be featured on this site! I don't know what I can say to thank you! Just the fact that you are going back and re-reading my story just to leave reviews for each chapter is enough to make me faint for joy. Thank you isn't enough! Each of your reviews was incredibly helpful and fun to read. I'm so happy that you love my story! Thank you so much! xD

** Annindofu: **I _LOVE_ fan-art! You really want to make Fan-art for _MY_ story? I am truly blessed to have a reviewer like you! Thank you!**  
**


	40. Welcome to the Battle Dome

Welcome to chapter 39 of _An Ace up my Sleeve!_

I can't believe I've made it this far!

Especially with so many supporters!

Anybody else feel a group hug coming on?

Cause I'm am just itching to form a large group with people I love and yet know nothing about, and clump together in a giant circle of huggyness.

Is that too much? Or am I starting to push the whole "pedophile" thing to far?

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or my own dignity. That was taken away from me when I started to open the chapters with stupid shit like this.)_

* * *

**Welcome to the Battle Dome**

The morning of the convention had Alice's stomach in knots. She had forced Eric to go out on his own to some weird game show in one of the performance rooms, where anybody could participate in a competition to see how many questions they could get right about anything that involved animation. Eric was reluctant to leave her on her own, but Alice convinced him she would meet up with him later after she found her friend. So he sadly agreed and left the hotel room, giving Alice the next few minutes to get dressed in her new outfit. Doug was still with her, but she had forced him to go into the bathroom so he couldn't see her change. He may have been dead, but that didn't make the staring any less awkward.

"Will you hurry up!" She heard Doug whine from the other side of the door. Alice had been hopping on one foot, trying to get her foot in the thigh high boot.

"Just be a nice ghost and wait!" she growled. Doug made a snorting sound in return, but for the next few minutes he was quiet, letting Alice finish. When Alice finally managed to pull on the boot, she sighed with relief. It had been a long and tedious process, but she finally managed to put it all on without falling over and ripping anything. The material felt fake, so she was afraid she might damage it if she messed with it too much. "Doug, you can come out!" she called to him. Doug past through the bathroom door excitedly, and then froze in his tracks when he saw Alice. She was the Emerald forest Queen he had always wanted, and the outfit was just perfect. Her mod looking dress stopped at her thighs and showed only a portion of her legs until the boots covered up the rest. It was tight around her waist and chest, but then flared out when it came to the long sleeves. Gold trim of ivory wrapped around the bottom and end of the sleeves. The rest of the dress was a forest green with a small brown elegant design on the front. She had on light brown leather gloves and thigh high boots that matched. The gold trim wrapped around the top of the boots, and a touch of shiny fake gold metal made the boots look light they had buttons. The collar of the mod dress scooped in a square just before it reached her chest. So she wasn't showing any cleavage, but her collar bone was enough skin showing to stop any man in his tracks. She couldn't do much with her hair, so she let it down and tried to make it wavy. It didn't exactly do what she wanted, but she assumed she was already going to get enough attention as it was. Her hair was the least of her worries. At least she had on a gold ivory crown to make her sparkle.

She waited for Doug to say something, but all she got from him was his mouth dropping and a glazed look in his eyes. She sighed heavily and shook her head.

"Doug," She started to snap her fingers in front of his face. "Snap out of it."

"Will you marry me?"

"No."

"You didn't even take the time to think about it."

"Not going happen."

"Is it because you're intimidated by me? That's understandable."

"No, it's because you're a dead druggy who's probably twenty years older than me."

"Twenty? I don't think so. More like fifteen."

"Do you want to find your friend or not?"

That seemed to bring Doug back quickly.

"You're right, Zeek comes first." He got pumped up. That gave Alice some relief, though she knew as soon she stepped out of the hotel room, she would be ogled just the same. If Doug was captivated by her, then who knows what was going to happen to her when she entered the convention. Rubbing her hands together, she took in a deep breath to prepare herself. "Are you ready?" Doug watched her curiously.

"I wish I had pepper spray."

"Nonsense, these conventions barely have any violence."

That didn't make her feel better. It only made her stomach turn even more. Usually she was confidant with crowds, but this was a first time for her just like it was for Eric. If only she had Eric's innocence, then she wouldn't have been so paranoid.

"Alright, let's do this." Alice put on her game face to hide her fear. It fooled Doug, because he was out of the room before Alice could say another word.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU ZEEK!" She heard him scream out in the hall. That brought a smile to her lips.

* * *

Alice's adventure began as soon as she stepped off that elevator into the lobby. The crowed from yesterday was nothing compared to what it was then. There were no longer as many booths as there were yesterday, but what made up for the loss was a bunch more cosplaying young adults with an excitement that enveloped the entire hotel. There was so much noise and laughter, that Alice had a hard time hearing Doug who was next to her.

"Zeek will be in the game section!" He had to scream to her. She gave him a look that stated she had no idea where he was referring to. Rolling his eyes, he pointed to the right. "Follow me!" Alice nodded her head and got behind him as he started to move his way through the crowd. And for him, that meant literally. Alice didn't have the luxury of phasing through people, so she had to go around, bumping shoulders and diving out of the way of some convention goers who wanted to take pictures in the middle of the hall. As she moved across the horribly old fashioned pattern rug the hotel seemed to enjoying using, she started to notice the stares. Her dress was a bit short, but it wasn't something she hadn't worn before. It was however, her first time to get that much attention for something so trivial. She was flattered at first, but when she felt a hand grab her ass, she lost it.

"HEY!" She shouted behind her, scaring two young girls. She dropped her anger quickly and apologized. The grabber had already gone, leaving Alice to look like the bad guy. "I'm really sorry," She apologized again as the two girls moved along. It was obvious that they didn't want to stick around for another one of her crazy outbursts. When they were gone, Alice looked around the crowded room and groaned. She had lost Doug, and that only meant she was screwed. She could have asked for directions, but after getting fondled, she didn't feel safe walking up to strangers anymore. Exhaling loudly, she went to go search for a map. It was a large hotel, so there had to be a map somewhere. If she was smart, she would have brought the map that was provided for her in the hotel room. But alas, she left it there along with her own self-respect.

Reaching a poster board, Alice finally found what she was looking for. Her eyes glittered with delight at the sight of her paper savior. But when she started to read the map, her happiness didn't last long. Her first instinct told her to look for a game room, but there was no such title on the map. Instead, there were names of contests and weird Asian words that she had no idea what they meant. She started to sweat as her eyes frantically searched the page for anything familiar.

"Are you looking for something?" A young cute voice came from behind her. Alice looked to her side and down at a girl with short brown hair that curled at the bottom. Her green eyes were large for her face, and she had a cute little nose that Alice would have killed for. Alice's troubles were over! She had a good feeling this girl wouldn't fondle or drool over her. She was the perfect stranger to ask!

"Oh yes!" Alice accidentally said with a little too much desperation. The little girl didn't seem to mind. She smiled sweetly and waited for Alice to speak. "I'm looking for the game room…" Alice frowned. She didn't like how she asked the question. If she was supposed to be someone famous, then she should have least had the knowledge to know more about the room she needed to get too. Thankfully the girl didn't seem to notice Alice's lack of knowledge. Or at least Alice hoped that was case.

"Just walk down this hallway until the end. Take a right, and it will be in the dining hall."

"Thank you so much!" Alice smiled brightly. The girl giggled and gave her a wave goodbye. Alice took the girls directions and continued down the hallway. She felt such a relief that she was able to get help from someone who was so sweet and kind. She was even starting to reconsider the pepper spray. When she reached the end of the hallway, she turned right. She stopped when she noticed the large banner above the door. It read _BATTLE OF THE LEAGUES! WELCOME TO THE BATTLE DOME!_

"It's about time you got here!" Doug stepped in front of her, scaring her out of her own skin.

"Doug!" She unintentionally said out loud. Luckily the game room was so loud that nobody stopped to look at her. Doug stood in front of her, looking quite angry, and she wasn't sure why he was the one angry. He hadn't waited for her, so it was his fault she got lost.

"You need to sign up right now," Doug got frantic. Alice's subtle anger turned into confusion.

"What?"

"You need to sign up for the battle! You're part of a League, so you need to compete!"

"Excuse me? I have to what?"

"No time to explain! Follow me!" Doug tried to grab her arm, but his hand went though, only leaving a cold chill with goosebumps. His frustration escalated.

"Now wait just one minute! I don't want to enter a competition! I just want to find Zeek! And you mister should be doing the same! Have you even looked around yet?"

"Of course I've looked! He isn't here yet. So while we wait, I want you to win back my honor and defeat all these losers who think they can bad talk the king of the Emerald forest!"

Alice raised an eyebrow at Doug who looked downright flustered. She had never seen so much passion in him other than when he talked about his friend. His pride as a king was overwhelming, and he expected her to win in a completion that she had never even heard of.

"I've never played the game before, how am I supposed to win?" Alice decided to just move on to what Doug really wanted. Apparently his friend was no longer a first priority. She would have forced him to just give up on the game and focus on his friend, but she had already crossed the line far enough with running away, using a young innocent cowboy, and lying through her teeth. Adding a computer game competition to the list wasn't going to push it any further.

"I'll be with you to help. I'll tell you what to do. Please!"

Alice grumbled under breath, exhaling a long and exasperating yes. She had given in to Doug's whining, and she regretting it as soon as she was writing her name down on the long list of names she would have to compete with. As she finished scribbling in her name, her eye caught hold of a familiar name on the list that made her pause for only a moment. She eyed the name with uncertainty. It was a simple name, one that would have been overlooked by many, but to Alice, it was a name that made her uneasy.

_Goggles_

Alice inhaled sharply and looked away from the list. Her eye scanned the room stridently. She didn't know why the name sucked out to her. The possibility of the name connecting to Matt was near impossible. But the handwriting used to write the name was what got Alice's skin crawling. There was no mistaking Matt's unruly attempt at cursive. He was here at the convention, and if Matt was among the crowd, then there was no doubt in her mind that Mello with him.

* * *

Matt inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of computers, costumes, and the adrenalin of the competition. He was already sitting at his assigned computer where he would be competing in battle to the death. He never felt so alive. Matt couldn't stop the excitement he felt when he logged onto his character. He was among one of the five Warlords in the game, and he was ranked the most powerful. He had a reputation to uphold. His strategy was going to get rid of his biggest threats first, and then move on to the less significant. That meant he would have to take out the other Warlords first, and then move on to the royalty.

"Matt," he heard an angry growl behind him.

"Yes?"

"We didn't come here for you to compete in some stupid game." Mello was obviously pissed. But even though he kept repeating the same complaints, he had done nothing to stop Matt. Matt wondered if maybe Mello was letting him have a break from the daily mess of his life. It wasn't often Matt got to indulge himself with others in a passion he felt so strongly about.

"This won't take long. I Promise." Matt smiled evilly from behind his signature goggles. Mello crossed his arms more tightly and stepped back from Matt. He really didn't want to be seen associating with him, so he found a chair in the back corner. He was getting tired of the crowd and the constant noise of laughing and chatter. Mello closed his eyes to try and get headache that was forming to settle down. The amount of color and movement in the room was starting to make him dizzy. He couldn't stand the cosplay.

* * *

Alice was placed in front of a computer, surrounded by a cubical and cords running up and down the walls. The screen in front of her was much larger than the average monitor, and she was pretty sure there was enough power in the system to keep half a city running for a good full week. She felt out of place. She didn't belong in that chair that was assigned for "_LoveHearts_". She didn't have a clue of what she was doing. The only part of the competition that made her feel at ease was the fact that the competitors could not speak with each other until the end of the game. That meant Matt was somewhere among the rows of cubicles, and he wasn't going to be able to see her. She was safe for the moment. All she had to do was die quickly and get the hell out of there before they spotted her. Easy, right?

"You need to log in," Doug pestered her from behind. Technically she wasn't allowed to have help, but Doug was dead. So she assumed that was an exception.

"How do I do that?" Alice looked at the screen uneasily. It was safe for her to speak since her cubicle was sound proof. Apparently the competition was being taken seriously.

"Click on the icon first to get onto the game noob." Doug rolled his eyes.

"What did you just call me?"

"A noob, its common MMORPG jargon,"

"Oh geez, what have I gotten myself into," Alice groaned, leaning her head onto her hand.

"Stop whining and start playing!" Doug picked up his voice. Alice waved him off and clicked on the icon. The screen went black, but was soon replaced by an image of a large breasted woman in skimpy armor. In the background were some odd looking trolls and a very muscular man wearing metal armor over his chest and a sword in his hand. Alice couldn't help the smile that came upon her face.

"How can that woman keep her hooters in that bikini?"

"That's a warrior woman, they have strong tits." That made Alice's smile grow. She was already starting to like the game. She would have to rethink joining the online community.

"So now what?" She turned her attention back to the login screen.

"My account name is _Jewishman89_ and my password is _Imamaster_,"

"You're Jewish?"

"Straight up,"

"Huh, who would have thought…?" She mumbled to herself.

"Alright, now a character selection will appear. You need to click on the girl." Alice did as she was told, and found the woman Doug was referring to. She was wearing practically nothing as well, but Alice would have to make do with her slutty avatar. Alice didn't think she would be playing for much longer anyway. She was really hoping somebody would just kill her soon.

Doug got a smug smile on his face when Alice finally appeared in a forest. "Welcome to the Emerald Forest my Queen," he said happily. Alice shuttered.

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry,"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" The announcer blared over the speakers. Alice paled at how intense the room was getting. She never expected an announcer, so who knows what else was coming. "WELCOME TO THE 20TH ANNUAL BATTLE DOME COMPETITION!" Alice pinched the bridge of her nose. Doug was jumping up and down next her, unable to contain himself. "ALL THE CONTESTANTS WILL BE SUMMONED TO THE DOME, SO PLEASE PREPARE FOR THE GAMES TO BEGIN!"

Alice didn't think much of the excitement, but Doug was close to her, pointing to all the keys on the keyboard, and telling her what each one did. He explained that her character was a bowman, which meant she would have to aim with the mouse. He also explained some magical spells she could use to enhance her abilities. But he went so quickly, that Alice only recalled how to move and possibly wave her hand. That, or flip someone off. She wasn't really sure.

"ARE ALL OF YOU READY? ALRIGHT! LET'S ENTER THE DOME!"

Once again, Alice's screen went black. Doug's excitement had started to affect Alice. The room got quiet, and Alice could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She wasn't sure why she felt the thrill, but she liked it. A part of her thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just kill a few competitors. It wasn't as if they were avoiding the search for Zeek. They were merely waiting for him to show up. Eventually he would end up in the game room, so why not kill the time with some mindless bloody violence?

"NOW I AM PROUD TO INTRODUCE OUR COMPETITORS!" The announcer bellowed. Alice's screen transformed from darkness, to a long hallway with white marble walls and pillars. A red carpet led to a massive door, and her character stood in front of it. "_LEON-LEO_, KING OF THE RUBY VOLCANO!" Alice heard a roar of clapping and cheering from her speakers. She looked to Doug for some answers, but he was too busy focusing on the game in front of her. He had a smile on so wide, it almost looked painful. Shrugging it off, Alice listened to the announcer call out more names. The speaker crowed just seemed to be getting louder with every name that was being called.

"ONE OF OUR KINGS COULD NOT BE HERE TODAY, BUT I AM HONORED TO ANNOUNCE THE QUEEN HAS FINALLY COME TO STAKE HER CLAIM AMONG THE RANKS! THE BEAUTIFUL _LOVEHEARTS_, QUEEN OF OUR EMERALD FOREST!"

The door in front of Alice had opened, leaving Alice in awe. The sunlight was brilliantly bright.

"Move forward!" Doug ordered. Alice snapped out of her daze and moved her avatar through the door. She was proud of herself for remembering how to move. As she entered the dome, it became clear to her where all the cheering was coming from. There were millions of fans circling around her high up above in their seats. It was as if she entered the coliseum in Rome. Among her in the circle below were the other competitors that had been announced earlier. Even though she was isolated in a cubicle with Doug, it still felt as if all eyes were on her.

"AND NOW THE SECOND HALF OF THE DUEL KINGERY THAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THE FOREST! PLEASE WELCOME _THE-ZEEK_!"

Alice and Doug gasped together and leaned forward at the same time.

"It's Zeek!" They both shouted at once. If Doug could have pushed Alice, then she was sure she would have been tossed away from the computer. Doug was right in front of the monitor, watching his friend's Avatar enter the ring from the door that was next to Alice's.

"It's really him! He's alive! I can't believe it!" Doug's voice cracked. Alice had thought that maybe Doug was starting to tear up, but before she could get a look at his face, he was gone out the cubicle in a matter of seconds. She didn't even get the chance to stop him. His search for his friend had become his first priority once again, which meant Alice was left alone to battle. She grumbled loudly and focused back on the screen where Zeek's avatar stood. He had long pointy ears and a blue hue to his skin. Alice was pretty sure he was an elf, and if she remembered correctly, Doug had said Zeek was some sort of magician. Alice cracked her knuckles, and waited for the announcer to finish the introductions. Even without Doug's help, she was sure she could do some damage on her own. How hard could the game be anyway?

"LAST BUT NOT LEAST LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM PROUD TO INTRODUCE THE NUMBER ONE WARLORD IN _MYSTICRELIC_! THE MASTER HIMSELF, _GOGGLES_!"

A large door across from her avatar opened up slowly, letting out clouds of white smoke and bright lights. A figured stepped out slowly from the fog. When Alice got the full detail of Matt's character, she inhaled sharply. On his back was a canon-like weapon. On his arms were some sort of metal gloves that she was sure had more forms of weaponry. The rest of his look didn't seem all too threatening, since he looked the most human out of all the other competitors, but that didn't fool Alice. The little confidence Alice had from before was wiped away clean, leaving only the sweat and regret of ever saying yes to joining the competition. She had only known Matt for maybe two months, but it was long enough for her to establish that whatever game he played, he would always win. She was sure she would die at the hands of a cigarette loving game obsessed genius, and he wasn't ever going to know it was her behind the slutty avatar. At least she hoped he wouldn't find out. She knew Matt was at the convention to find her, so she would have to take extra precautions to find a way out without being seen. She was going to need a miracle.

"THAT'S THE LAST OF OUR COMPETITORS! NOW IT'S TIME TO START THE BATTLE! THE ARENA WILL BE CHANGED FOR THE COMPETITION, SO WHEN THE GREEN LIGHT COMES ON, THE BATTLE WILL BEGIN!

Alice licked her dry lips and took deep breaths. She looked over the keyboard and tried to remember what Doug had told her. When her screen went black again, her heart pounded in her chest. She was about to enter a war, and all she knew how to do was move. She wondered how fast her avatar could run, because she figured she was going to need to run away a lot.

"ARE YOU READY COMPETITORS? HERE WE GO!"

When her avatar came back on the screen, Alice found herself in some forest. It wasn't like any normal forest were cute little deer would hop and play with sweet rabbits. No, it was filled with mushrooms much larger then some of the shrubbery. The trees looked deformed, and there was a thick fog covering the ground. Alice couldn't even see her feet. She brought her hands to the keyboard and grazed her hands over some of the keys. A green light was turned on above her in the cubicle and Alice jumped from the horn that was blasting through the speakers. The competition had begun. Out of desperation, Alice pressed on a key that caused her avatar to sit on the ground.

"Wait no! Stand up!" she stuttered, pressing more keys. Her avatar eventually stood back up, but not without doing some odd dance, throwing some money on the ground, and then shooting an arrow. Alice had hoped to find the attack button again, but there was no such success. "Oh man," She groaned, trying to get her avatar to move through the foggy forest. Her head kept moving in one direction, while her body would move in another. At one point all she was looking at were the tops of the trees going by her. She wasn't even sure if she was moving backwards or forwards.

"What is wrong this stupid game!" She threw her hands in the air.

* * *

Matt easily maneuvered through the forest, as if he was an animal prowling through its own territory. He was in his element, and he had already taken out three of the Warlords. There was only one left and he was close to tracking his prey. Mello was right behind him, looking over his shoulder at the screen. He had gotten bored sitting in the corner, and was even more annoyed when a bunch of girls started to talk to him. Their high pitch squeals and useless chatter made him want to stick an ice pick through his head. Even though watching Matt play a video game wasn't much better, at least he was free from having to talk to people.

"Found you," Matt snickered, aiming his weapon at a moving target. With one shot, he had his opponent lying on the ground. "Ha!"

"Can you hurry this up?" Mello was impatient, not sharing the same enthusiasm Matt had for the sport.

"Calm down, all I have left is the royalty, and that shouldn't take me more than ten minutes."

Mello scoffed at his friend and leaned against the cubicle wall. The time they were wasting with the game, they could have been using to find Alice. But Mello couldn't make Matt stop. He didn't have it in him to do so. It had been a long time since Matt had genuinely smiled like he was. Of course with Alice, she had changed Matt's mood, but nothing could ever replace the thrill Matt got from online gaming. Mello just had to stick it out until the end. Judging by the second king Matt killed off, it wouldn't take much longer.

"This is getting sad." Matt chuckled, shaking his head as he decapitated the King of the Ruby Volcano. Mello shook his head as well, but for a completely different reason. For the next five minutes, Matt was on a killing spree. Even the announcer had come on and was praising Matt as if he were a god. Mello would never come to understand why so much work was put into something virtual. "huh, this is strange…" Matt got Mello's attention. Mello looked back to Matt's screen and noticed a girl avatar just beyond a row of vines and trees. She was at a distance, but Matt used a telescope to see her more closely.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Mello snorted, leaning in closer to the screen to see. Matt was just as confused as his friend. The big busted blonde archer was walking into a tree, her head looking towards the sky. Either her game had froze, or she had no idea what she was doing. Whatever the scenario, Matt was smiling none the less.

"If I'm not mistaken, that would be the queen of the Emerald Forest."

"Does she know she's walking into a tree?"

"I don't know, but it's quiet entertaining," Matt chuckled.

"I think she just flipped you off."

"Huh, well that's not very queen like."

The girl suddenly stopped walking and started to cast a spell. "Oh shit!" Matt got serious. He quickly got control of his keyboard and made his avatar run the opposite direction. He knew what spell she was going to use, and he didn't want to be around when she cast it. He had to get away from her; at least twenty feet.

* * *

"Oh geez, what is happening?" Alice's hands were above her head again. She had removed them after she noticed her avatar started to glow pink. Whatever she had done, she didn't think it was going to be good. Alice watched the archer lifted her hands and chant in some odd language. The ground shook under her, making Alice's panic attack go into overdrive. She was going to kill her own character and humiliate herself. The shaking cracked a hole in the ground, and Alice saw a large paw grab hold of the ledge. Her fear turned into curiosity as she leaned in closer to the screen. Out of the hole came an incredibly large sabertooth tiger with armor over its head and back. Its fur was a dull orange yellow, and it had brown spots over its legs and tails. Alice had never seen anything so magnificent in her life. She already loved it.

"Oh! How cute! My own kitty!" She clapped, pleased with herself for creating such a beast. The sabertooth stepped toward her and nuzzled her avatars face. Alice melted in her seat. If she knew how to pet her sabertooth, she would have. When the cat was done nuzzling, it perked its head up and growled over towards one of the bushes. Alice thankfully got her character to turn in the direction of where the cat was growling, but she anciently made her avatar sit down. Alice sighed heavily and tried to get her stand up. Out of nowhere, a man with full armor and a spear charged out of the dense forest. Alice screamed out loud unintentionally and brought her hands to her mouth to get her to stop. Her sabertooth roared to life and blocked the attack. Its large canines snapped the spear in half, leaving the knight to pull out his sword. Unfortunately for the knight, he didn't get the chance to. The sabertooth got his head in its mouth and he tossed the knight around as if he was just a toy to play with. Alice gasped when the large cat ripped the head clean off and let the body tumble to the ground in a pile of broken limbs.

"Good lord!" She inhaled. Her hands were still over her mouth, unable to even get close to the keyboard. The sabertooth licked its lips happily and laid down to clean its paws, as if it just had eaten its dinner. Alice was speechless. She didn't know whether to be disgusted or thankful. When another man emerged from the forest, Alice had almost wanted to warn him about the killer cat, but when she saw who it was, she stopped breathing. _Goggles_ was standing next to a large mushroom, and he was giving her a thumbs up. Alice was bewildered. She didn't know why the cat wasn't attacking Matt, and she wasn't sure why Matt was giving her praise, but she did know that this was the end for her. If the actual scenario of meeting Matt and Mello at the convention wasn't making her shiver in her own boots, then she would have laughed at their little online meeting. But Alice didn't have the humor in her to find the situation humorous.

Biting her lip, she pondered over how her death was going to be. She didn't want to end up like the knight who got decapitated. She didn't want to die without some fight. Looking over her keyboard, there was one key she remembered. She knew it wasn't going do much, but she wasn't going to just die without some pride. Taking in a deep breath, she put on her game face. For dramatic effect, she raised her hand slowly over the f6 key.

"I am the queen of the Emerald forest." Alice was firm. She pressed her finger down and pushed the key. Her avatar lifted her right hand and gave Matt the bird; a smug look crossed her expression. Alice smiled and watched Matt's avatar aim his canon. A blast of bright light filled her screen and the next thing Alice saw was a wave of blood run down her monitor. Big bold letters flashed, stating that she had lost the game. Alice ran a hand through her hair, hearing the announcer go over the list of victims by the hands of _Goggles_. When she overheard her avatar's name, she couldn't help the smile that came next. It may have been a small gustier, but it was enough to satisfy Alice's anger towards the boys. She had fulfilled her long lasting dream to really show how she felt towards the boys and their lies. She was ready to move on and find Doug and Zeek.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!**  
**

**I Am Pandora, Bree Renee****, ****tootsiepop101****, ****XBloodMageRikaX****, ****Blackenflames****, ****kapibarasan****, ****mesokawaii****, ****KiyUzumaki, Kairi0403****, and xiannu007. **(...hfdaghalgheriagkdl;ajgpger;! Sorry...I got so excited to type to you all, that my hands just could not control themselves. So I see you all are enjoying yourselves. Don't mind me, just awkwardly watching you all read my story and laughing to myself whenever I see you review. You know, what all authors do if they were as mental as I am =D. Thank you all for not running away from me yet! xD)

**Yumeno: **When's your Birthday? If it's close, then HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Are you going to eat cake? If you are, then tell me the flavor of the cake, and in my next chapter, I'll have L eat the same flavor. =D

**Bebbingtoe:** Ohhh Scottish, that is epic! Did L sound weird when he spoke? I never thought to picture him with a Scottish accent. xD

**Stormygio: **The cupcake was amazing, and I would love to wash it down with some hot chocolate!

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** This riddle sounds like something big, but at the same time not...hmmm...The hardest part of this riddle is the "I never was", because wouldn't that make the answer not exist? So maybe it's not a Noun? Oh gosh...is it faith maybe? Well...no that can't be right...I have no clue. XP

**DANGEROUS-NINJA: **If you go back to chapter 7 then I explain about the Kira case. I'm sorry to say, but I won't ever be putting the Kira case in this story. The timeline wouldn't be right in the first place since everyone is already older. Light wouldn't be in high school if I attempted too. I also didn't want everyone to die a horrible death...so...I made my own happy story =D. I'm sorry if you were hoping to see the case.

**freaksforever:** That's an odd song for a first grade performance...xD But it makes me so happy to know you associate a song with _MY_ story!

**Speckles719:** Aw! Thank you for telling your friend about it! The only reason to go to conventions is to dress up, so that guy friend of yours is lame. And I have seen the last Unicorn, but that was like YEARS ago... (Well that made me sound old...). Alice would be an interesting Unicorn...xD

**wolf neko:** You are too kind! I'm flattered you like my writing style so much! I don't have the confidence yet to try anything pro, and who knows if I ever will, but thank you! You made me literately giggle and jump while clapping xD.


	41. Mission Complete Introducing TheZeek

I _*inhale*_ am _*inhale*_ so _*inhale*_ happy! _*sobs and fans self*_

This is the 40th chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_,

and here I am crying tears of joy and looking like I just watched the _Titanic_.

Can I be anymore pathetic?

I am way too happy to be even sitting down right now.

No, I'm serious.

I'm typing this little intro while standing up.

It kind of hurts my back...

But, it's worth it!

_(Disclaimer: Don't own Death Note; Only my entire cast of OC's)_

* * *

**Mission Complete; Introducing _The-Zeek_  
**

After Alice's death, she raced out her cubicle and scanned the room for any sign of Doug. Matt was taking out the other competitors as if he were shooting fish in a barrel. She knew she had only minutes left before the competition would be over. Matt was obviously going to win and then he would come find her. She pursed her lips together tightly. She really didn't want to be dragged away before she met with Zeek and Doug. She needed to know if Doug was alright. He had only asked her to find his friend, and she had done that. So she wanted to make sure that that was enough for him to move on. She needed to know if Doug was finally at peace. Walking towards the exit, she casually gazed around her for the familiar messy black head of hair. Doug shouldn't have been hard to spot since his blood shot eyes and messy clothes were pretty distinguishable. But with so many dressed up in odd costumes, she was finding the task near impossible. Grumbling loudly, she walked close to the booth where the announcer was. There was a list of names above him that explained who was dead and who was still in the competition. _Goggles_ was still competing of course, but what Alice really wanted to know was if Zeek was dead of not. She scanned the row of names and smiled brightly when she came across _The-Zeek _under the list of the dead. That was a relief for her. That meant Zeek and Doug had to be out and about somewhere in the convention. She hadn't seen them in the game room, so she was going to have to explore. The idea made her stomach do flips, but it was for a good cause. She was just going to have to ignore the staring and ass grabbing.

Well…

She could probably kick the ass-grabbers in the nuts, but other than that, she had to stay calm and collective.

"GOGGLES HAS ONLY FIVE MORE TO GO! CAN HE DO IT FOLKS?"

Oh good god, she needed to get out of there! Alice rushed out the room as fast as her four inch heels could take her. Luckily she's had practice running in heels, so she didn't have to put much effort into it. It was avoiding the incoming crowd that was really holding her back. She had to dodge the fan girls and boys that were coming in to watch the ending of the competition. It seemed Matt was a hot shot among the online gamers. When she finally got past the crowd, she gasped for much needed air. She made it out of the game room safe and sound, and even with some of her sanity intact. Fixing her disheveled dress, she looked around the hall at the crowd walking by. With all her might, she prayed she would see Doug the minute she stepped out the game room. But he was nowhere to be seen. Sighing heavily, she moved forward, flowing with the crowd as it moved. She kept her focus straight ahead, too afraid to look at the others staring at her. Unfortunately her little charade didn't last long. Her arm was tugged back and she was forced to the side staring into the eyes of the familiar little girl that had help her before with directions.

"You're _LoveHearts_, aren't you?" She looked excited. Alice didn't have an answer for her. She was at a loss for words, and too relieved to know it wasn't some strange guy trying to grab her ass again. The little girl's smile started to fade when she didn't get a response, so Alice quickly nodded her head. That brought back the little girls' smile in an instant. "Oh my god, it's so great to meet you!" She hopped on the balls of her feet.

"Uh...thank you?" Alice forced herself to speak. She sounded awkward, as if she was trying to spell out a word in the spelling bee.

"Can I take a picture with you?" Her eyes were shining. Alice was incredibly flattered, but at the same time, unsure of what to do with herself. She was not _LoveHearts_, and she almost felt ashamed for impersonating her. But then she remembered that if she wasn't the one wearing the dress, then Doug would have been, since he was the one to make _LoveHearts_ in the first place. That mental image made her shutter. It wasn't long before she let go of the shame, and replaced it with pure confidence and enthusiasm.

"Yeah, of course you can."

The little girl took a hold of Alice's arm in a death grip and pulled her down so their faces were touching. A friend of hers held up a camera and told them both to say cheese. Alice tried with all her heart not to make her smile forced, but it was hard not to wince when her arm was behind squeezed so tight, that her blood flow was being cut off. When the picture was taken and her arm was released, the little girl thanked her uncontrollably and repeated her appraisals. It took almost ten minutes for Alice to finally convince her she had to move on. It really helped when the girl spotted yet another so called "celebrity". When Alice was finally free from the little girl, she looked at the clock and started to sweat. Matt was most likely done with his killing spree, and she had no doubt in her mind that he was now after her. She needed to find a place to hide. The first door she spotted, she deemed it worthy of a good place to lay low. She quickly opened the door and entered the room as quietly as she could. Her first observation was the rows of chairs facing the front, and the crowds of people occupying those seats. At the front of the room there were two tables with four convention goers at each table. Standing between the two tables was a host, holding up flash cards. A little confused about where she was, she looked behind at the door for the sign. She was shocked to find out the sign behind her declared the room to be "Animation Trivia". She was in the exact room she had sent Eric too. Alice swallowed the dry air in her throat and cringed. She really didn't want to see Eric before she met with Doug and Zeek. She didn't want to get Eric involved anymore then he already was. Hoping maybe she could slip out the room before she was noticed, Alice quietly started to open the door behind her.

"Ace?"

_Damnit!_

"Hey Eric," Alice shut the door, pretending as if she just entered the room. Eric was leaning against the wall beside her, with surprise written all over his face. He must have been there the whole time and Alice hadn't noticed. She regretted entering the room when she noticed how Eric was looking at her. His focus was mainly on her knew outfit she was sporting. She wondered if Eric had ever even seen thigh high boots on a girl before. Eric had to clear his throat before he could even speak.

"Did you find your friend?" He forced his eyes to look at her own. Alice noticed the struggle it was for him not to say anything more.

"Not yet..." Alice started to play with her thumb. It was a nervous habit of hers that she still couldn't get over. Her inner thoughts were shouting for her to run. She didn't want Matt or Mello to catch her with Eric. She really didn't want to see him harmed.

"Well I'm sure you'll find him soon." Eric sported his signature smile. The little pep talk did boost some of Alice's confidence. It left her more determined to save Eric from the wrath of Mello and Matt.

"Thanks." She smiled in return.

"Wow man, did you see that? That dude had like, the answer, but then totally choked." Alice overheard a mellow raspy voice from behind Eric. Her smile faded and her expression turned to curiosity. Eric turned around to face his new apparent friend. Alice had to step closer to Eric to see his new friend. Her first opinion of the guy was a sense of relaxation. He looked young, but Alice was sure he was in his late twenties. His hair was to his shoulders and the color was a deep chocolate brown. He had forest green eyes and a 5'oclock shadow. His half smile was contagious and Alice couldn't help the good feeling building up inside her. She didn't know who he was, but she already found a friend in him. She also smiled because of the outfit he was wearing. His ears were pointy and he had some odd paint design on half of his face. He wore a deep blue top without sleeves, and his pants looked like those baggy colorful trousers _MCHammer_ had worn in the 1990's. Alice had almost started to laugh, but she held it in.

"Choked? Is he okay?" Eric sounded genuinely concerned. Alice's laughter shifted from the stranger, to Eric.

"I'm sure the little dude will be fine." Eric's friend kept his smile. It was then that he noticed Alice standing behind Eric. A light snicker escaped his lips and he referred to Eric."Who's the dudette?"

Eric gave Alice a quick glance and then smiled back a his friend. "Oh, that's..." But before he could finish, Alice walked in front of Eric and held out her hand.

"I'm _LoveHearts_."

"Wow man! You're _LoveHearts_? Now way! I thought Doug created her." The guy's smile turned to a low chuckle. Alice didn't think anything could make him frown.

"You know Doug?" Alice's question was innocent.

"Yeah man, we share a kingdom."

The answer didn't click for Alice until she really got a look at the guy's ears. They were pointy...like an elf's. _HOLY CRAP!_

"Tyler?"

"Oh man, you know my name? Have we met before?"

"It's you right? You're Tyler! You're Zeek!"

Eric could no longer stay quiet. "You mean this was the friend you were looking for?"

"I'm like, lost here. But not that kind of lost where I can't find my way through a maze. More like the kind of lost where I don't know what going on." Zeek rubbed the back of his head.

"I really need to speak with you in privet." Alice ignored Eric and put all her focus on Zeek. She couldn't hold in her excitement. She had finally found Zeek! After all the struggle and hardship, she finally reached her goal she had been working so hard for. She was already in too deep with the manipulation and betrayal, so seeing Zeek was like a beacon of light at the end of a dark tunnel. Her luck was finally coming around. Her biggest concern though, was that Doug wasn't with him. She wondered if maybe seeing his friend alive was enough to let Doug move on. But there was a gut feeling she had that didn't sit right. Even though Doug wasn't there, she still felt he was around, trapped by more than just his need to see his friends safety.

"I don't know man, you're Doug's girl. I couldn't do that to my buddy." Zeek held up both his hands.

"Who's Doug?" Eric's voice cracked. But Alice ignored him once again.

"No, it's not like that." Alice rubbed her forehead. Even with Zeek's easy going attitude, she found it difficult to explain to him the importance of the situation. "Can we please talk somewhere alone? I promise to explain myself better when we get there."

"Alright, chill my sister Elf, I know a place we could hang without the chitter chatter around us." Zeek motioned his arms into a shrug. Alice was still impressed with the smile on Zeek's lips. She was excited to know that she finally found Zeek after all this time, but now that she was going to speak with him alone, some concern started to surface. What could she possibly say to the guy? Was she really going to tell him that she could speak with the dead, and for the past few days she was communicating with Doug? Would his smile finally go away if she told him that? The concerning thoughts made Alice's stomach do flips. She clearly wasn't prepared for their encounter. Especially since Doug wasn't around to help her. Where was the druggy basterd anyway?

"Okay, let's go." Her cheer started to fade. Eric didn't seem to like where the conversation had gone. There were way to many unanswered questions, and by now he was starting to lose the little light of ignorance he had for letting Alice do as she pleased. There was more to Alice that he wanted to know.

"I'm coming too."

"Eric, you should stay..." But Alice was cut off by the hippy Elf next to her.

"The more the merrier man," Zeek laughed. Alice pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. It seemed privacy meant anyone could come for Zeek. "I can take you to my fortress on wheels." Zeek started to lead the way. Alice opened her mouth to protest, but Eric was already following Zeek out the room. He look absolutely delighted that he won. There was nothing Alice could have said to stop him at that point. Grumbling under her breath, she followed them both out the room. She was really going to have to rethink her little talk with Zeek if Eric was going to be with them.

* * *

"I'm pleased to see you have made the right decision." L's robotic voice echoed in the prisoners interrogation room.

"Let's just get this _fucken'_ over with," Joseph growled, clenching his hands into fists. His knuckles had even started to turn white. It was obvious to Near that he was under a lot of stress.

"As you wish." L was calm as always, taking a bite of his chocolate cake with a custard frosting. "My first request from you are names. Please tell me the names of your accomplices. If you are unsure of their real names, then nick names are welcome too."

Near wasn't expecting Joseph to say anything at first. His jaw was shut tight, almost as if there were nuts and bolts locking it up. But the shaking in his shoulders told Near it was only a matter of time until he would give it all away. It seemed Joseph finally realized his life was more important then some agreement he made with a gang he hardly associated with. He had only joined for the thrill of the killing anyway. Any other gang would have sufficed as well, as long as he got to watch the life drain from some fools eyes. A smile played at the tips of Joseph's lips.

"I only worked with two other guys. The rest of them, I never spoke to."

"And these two men are?"

"They called themselves Grill and Hammer." Joseph's smirk grew. He was starting to find their little interrogation to be humerus. L wrote down the names on a notepad. It was obvious that those weren't their real names, so he was going to have to do his own research if he was going to find them.

"Good, and you said you had no other contact besides them?"

"Yeah, I was just a disposable dog to them. The only way I could talk to the group was through Hammer and Grill." A laugh escaped his lips. "Seems they didn't find me trustworthy!"

L was disappointed to know his lead was turning into a bust. He had hoped Joseph would have known more about the group. But he had to work with what he got. He couldn't just mull around over such little disappointments. Especially since in the back of his head he was thinking about Alice. It was enough already that she was driving him crazy with worry. But he couldn't let anything else get him down, or his work would ultimately be effected. He had to focus properly.

"Alright, let's move on to location. You were stationed where exactly?"

"I couldn't tell you where the main warehouse is, but they did give me an apartment. Hammer and Grill lived in the same complex."

"Where is this complex?"

"Stafford. The area is crawling with gangs. Mostly Hispanic."

"Yes, I am familiar with that area." L placed his thumb to his bottom lip. Joseph grunted and snorted at the same time.

"So is that it? Do you want to know my astrology sign as well?" He was snide.

"That would hardly be useful. No, I am more interested in your last kill."

That seemed to perk up the killer. Near saw the glint in his eyes, as if he were recalling a joyful memory.

"I'm listening." Joseph's smirk widened. He had many teeth replaced by gold. Near wondered if maybe that was how he saved his money. He had so many of them, it was hard to believe he found the gold in his mouth to be pleasing to look at. Near just thought it looked disgusting.

"Does the name Douglas Brown ring any bells?"

The name brought Joseph into a fit of laughter. He leaned his head back and bellowed toward the ceiling.

"That idiot thought he could get away!" His laughter got louder.

"If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Brown was a loyal costumer. Why would you be ordered to kill him?"

Joseph stopped his laughing long enough to get a breath in. He still had on his smile, but it was twisted. Just like the many smiles L had seen before on murderers. Finlay Joseph started to speak again. He looked to the camera and focused his eyes on the screen. As if he wanted to look into the eyes of his captor.

"That fool was a thief."

* * *

Alice rubbed her hands together aggressively. The nerves turned from her thumb to her whole hand. It was only a matter of time until she would feel her skin rub off. She was walking behind Zeek and Eric, feeling the blacktop click under the friction of her heels. Zeek was escorting them to his supposive quiet place, where they could talk without being overheard. Alice had mixed emotions about the situation. A part of her liked the idea of leaving the hotel. There was less chance for her to run into Matt or Mello if she was outside. On the other hand, she was leaving the safety of the hotel and its crowds, to go talk with somebody she had just met in a place she was certain nobody would be able to hear her scream. But she convinced herself that Zeek was no threat. He smiled as if his life was like a boat sailing with the wind. It carried him without much defiance from him. He seemed to accept there meeting as if they were already close friends. Alice had never met somebody so free willed and laid back in her life. She really didn't have anything to worry about with Zeek. She got a good feeling from him, just like she did with Eric. But her biggest worries stemmed from the fear of her conversation she was about to have. Eric was with them, and she didn't want him there. She wanted him to stay ignorant about her problems. He was better off not knowing about her unnatural gift. She would rather just have left him at the convention and made him think of her as some bitch, rather then think of her as some crazy nut who can see the dead. But he was stubborn, and wouldn't listen to her pleas to stay back. She no longer had the hold on him like she did before. It must have been when he was talking with his officer friend back in Grapeland. Some of that conversation Alice didn't get to hear must have finally clicked with him.

"We're almost there." Zeek looked back at Alice. Alice gave him small smile to show that she heard him. Eric slowed his pace so he could walk with Alice.

"I know that I overstepped by boundaries by coming with you, but I know that there's somethin' going on. I just want you to know that you can trust me. Whatever is going on, I will understand." Eric kept his voice silky smooth. It was rhythmic and southerly sweet. For a moment, Alice had almost believed that he would understand. But her good feeling didn't last long when she recalled her past. No matter how nice or decent the person was, Alice would always be rejected in the end. L and Watari were the only two for the first time to accept her to some degree. They weren't convinced completely, but it was a start for Alice that she would never take for granted. At least, she hoped that was the case.

"I know you mean well Eric, but..." Alice bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't find the right words without making herself sound like a complete ass. But it was either complete ass, or total nut. Alice would have rather been the ass then the nut.

"Here we are!" Zeek interrupted their talk. Alice was stopped not by the will of her own feet, but by the shock of what her eyes were looking at. A Cutaway Van Chassis RV was parked under the shade of a small oak tree. The paint was white, but there was rust around the fender and parts of the frame around the wheels. There once was a logo, but it looked like it was ripped off. The tires didn't look black like they were suppose to. Instead they were covered in dirt and sand, giving them a dark sheen of brown. The part of the truck that Alice could see inside of was the front seat, and she immediately spotted the dice hanging over the mirror. They were yellow with smiley faces on each of the sides. On the dashboard there were wrappers of old fast food burgers and one dancing hula girl. Whatever doubt she had been feeling before seemed to wash away. A smile replaced her frown. Even though the RV looked beat up, she still found it to be amusing. "Mi casa es su casa," Zeek didn't have the exact Spanish accent, but Alice understood the phrase anyway.

"You live here?" Eric didn't seem to have the same enthusiasm as Alice did.

"No man, I only sleep here. I'm a traveler, the world is my home."

Alice wanted to laugh, but she held her tongue. She was becoming to like Zeek more and more. She would have loved to travel like he was. In the open road, exploring new places and meeting new people. Not letting anyone tell her what to do. It sounded like heaven. Eric on the other hand liked order and hard work. Zeek's lifestyle didn't appeal to him in the least.

"Sounds like a sweet deal." Alice walked closer to the RV. Eric swayed on his feet, contemplating over his morals.

"Are you really from Texas?" Eric asked Zeek.

"Born and raised dude." Zeek flashed him a smile. It was hard for Alice to believe, especially since Zeek still had on pointy ears and MCHammer pants. Eric didn't seem so convinced either. "Do you want to see the inside? It's wicked awesome." Zeek turned back to Alice who had been circling his RV with delight. She smiled over at him and nodded her head vigorously. Surprisingly, it was going to be the first time Alice was ever going to be in an RV. She had been in plenty of limo's and other expensive cars, but a RV was never among the many vehicles she's been in. Mainly because her parents didn't believe the big monster of a truck wasn't worthy of their standers. It wasn't professional enough. As Zeek unlocked the door, Alice was practically jumping up and down behind him. Eric was a little concerned with her odd behavior, but he kept it to himself, not wanting to disappoint Alice's new found joy. When he finally got the door open, he stepped up inside first. Alice was second to rush in and Eric was slow to follow.

Alice was in complete awe. Zeek sat down on an old light blue couch that had more fast food wrappers on it. Next to the couch was a walk-in kitchen with light colored wood cabinets above the pale counters. there was a fold out table on the left, and a sink to the right. Past the kitchen and the table, there was a doorway without the door. Instead, there were long strings of beads blocking the way. They were multicolored and sparkly. Beyond that, she wasn't able to see any further, though she was sure she wouldn't be disappointed. From what she saw already, she was convinced it was the greatest thing on earth. Especially since he had a tiny disco ball hanging over the table.

"How...homie..." Eric gave the room a grimace.

"This is awesome!" Alice started down the little walkway towards the back room. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she had to know what the rest of the RV looked like.

"Glad you like. Did that bead-work myself." Zeek pointed toward the back where Alice was walking. Eric wanted to roll his eyes, but seeing Alice so excited over something so simple made him want to be excited with her. Alice used her hand to push the beads apart and stepped into the small room with the queen size bed. Her body froze with goosebumps trailing up and down her arms. Her breath became visible and her heart picked up speed. She almost choked on her own words when she saw what was sitting on the bed. She had been so preoccupied with exploring the RV that she had completely forgotten what she was really there for. But seeing him on the bed brought it all back. She stared into the cold black blood shot eyes of Doug, the shock slowly sinking inside her to fuse with her brain. Doug seemed just as surprised as her, only he looked more frail. Alice could have sworn that Doug had lost some weight. He look thinner and more weak.

"Doug?" Alice exhaled in a whisper, her brows coming down in concern. Doug's appearance was nothing like Alice expected. She had hoped that Doug would have felt better after seeing Zeek, but it seemed to have only made him worse off.

"I need your help again." Doug's chapped lips looked pale as he spoke. Alice could even hear the crack in his voice. Something was terribly wrong, and she only assumed it was going to get worse.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

******Bree Renee**, ** kapibarasan, Speckles719, mrs-Sora-sparrow, tootsiepop101, MsBlondiePunch, Honakaa-Honami, I Am Pandora, freaksforever, GodsOfDeathLikeApples, Saber Amane, Iron-Gear Serpant, HybridRebellion, Silver Levi, wolf neko, AnisoulJ93, and alicelouise'x. **(Sorry about my over emotional state and the beginning. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. I know this may all sound redundant to you all, but I truly do appreciate all of your reviews. I do sometimes say some odd phrases or statements for kicks and giggles, but in the end, it's your reviews that make me a better writer. I couldn't do this story without you, so thank you!)**  
**

**torixx3: **I hope your wrist is better. And thank you! I loved the Ghost whisperer! That was a good show. I also love your name. For some odd reason, and I hope I don't scare you away with my creepiness, but I just adore the name Tori. It was actually one of my first names I used for a character I made up years ago. I have a sentimental attachment to it. Anyway, (Now that I made you uncomfortable...) thanks again for your awesome review! xD**  
**

** xXalykunXx: **Don't feel bad! You can take as much time as you need. And even if she does look five years old, I don't mind. I would love to see a five-year-old Alice! Just the fact that you're drawing her blows my mind. I'm in a state of bliss just thinking about it. =D**  
**

**KanrasLittleSerpent: **Ohhh! What kind of bird? Or is it one of those fantasy looking kind? That would be epic!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Holy mother of a goose egg, what are you trying to make me solve? My brain is deep fried and served with a side of fries. You only have A, B, C, and E, but D wasn't stated...so that must mean something...Also, some of them can't be telling the truth since there can't be 4 whites and then 3 whites with one black. Possibly? Oh gosh...I don't know...I'm in too much of an Alice mood to understand such crazy riddles. this would be easier if I just got back into the mindset of L.**  
**

**Yumeno: **I'm happy to have put a smile on your face. The cake sounded yummy. I will proudly continue to write and will anxiously await your next review! =D**  
**

** emma: **Aw! Thank you! I am always thrilled to hear that I have my readers laugh to a point where they either get awkward looks or concern for their health. It makes me feel like I have truly accomplished my ultimate goal as a writer. You never have to apologize for a long review. I literally thrive of reviews like yours. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such wonderful compliments! I would hug you, but there seems to be a computer in the way...xD**  
**

** Pyro-34: **I'm so happy that you decided to read it! Thank you! xD**  
**


	42. The Truth Comes Out

Welcome to the 41st chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Everybody stand up!

Wave your hands high above your heads!

CLAP!

Now SIT!

Enjoy the chapter... =D

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**The Truth Comes Out**

Alice stood frozen in the doorway behind the beads that separated her from Eric and Zeek. The two boys were talking quietly among themselves, allowing for Alice to gap at Doug on the bed. Doug looked awful. His eyes were drooping and his skin looked paler. When he tried to speak, his lips parted in a quiver, as if the task was daunting. Alice shook her head back and forth in disbelief. Ghosts weren't supposed to get sick or hurt. They were dead. Nothing could make them worse than they already were. But, there was Doug looking ill. As if he contracted a terminal sickness. He looked broken down, as if he was about give up on himself.

"What are you talking about Doug?" Alice choked out a whisper. Earlier Doug had told her that her help was necessary once again.

"Zeek is in trouble." He covered his hand over his mouth. It was shaking with his lips. Alice wanted to look back at Zeek, but she kept her focus on Doug.

"What's wrong?" She swallowed. She could feel it in her bones. Whatever the problem was, it was going to involve some form of violence.

"I should have told you this before. I should have warned you. I should have…" Doug started to whimper. He was sucking in oxygen as if he actually needed it to speak.

"Doug," Alice sharpened her voice. She didn't have much time before Eric or Zeek would wonder what she was up too.

"The man who killed me was looking for something that I took. Zeek still has it, which means they are going to come after him for it!"

Alice opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She understood that the killer was with L and Near. That man was Joseph. So she had nothing to worry about, right?

"Ace?" She heard Eric call her name.

"Huh?" She turned away from Doug. Eric was giving her a concerned expression. She wasn't sure why he was giving her such an emotion, but she quickly got out the small bedroom to show him she was fine.

"I remember you spoke with Zeek earlier about that guy Doug. Zeek just told me what happened to him." Eric surprised her.

Alice inhaled sharply. She grazed her eyes over Zeek for a moment, noticing he was still smiling. It was as if he was always in a relaxed form of bliss. Alice figured the marijuana had something to do with that.

"What did he tell you?" Alice was cautious. She hadn't heard the story herself, but she knew anything with murder in it would ultimately make Eric question his earlier actions of helping her. He would probably even contact the police. Alice didn't want anything to do with the police. The police meant L and Near, and she wasn't ready to deal with them just yet. It was bad enough Mello and Matt were close to catching her.

"He told me Doug had passed away. He was a friend of yours right?"

Alice was immensely thankful that Zeek didn't talk about the murder. She relaxed her shoulders and stiff muscles in her legs.

"Yes, he was my friend." She gave him a small smile. She wasn't lying. Even though Doug was annoying and persistent, she thought of him as her friend.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Eric focused that line on both Alice and Zeek. Zeek waved it off lightly.

"Don't worry about it dude. Doug is still with us."

"What?" Alice panicked. Could Zeek see spirits too? Did he notice Alice talking to Doug earlier?

"I can feel it man." Zeek pointed to his heart. Alice saw the corner of Eric's lips curve up. He found Zeek to be amusing. It was the second time that morning that Alice felt relieved.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to Zeek about anyway?" Eric moved on. Alice was a bit thrown off by how quick Eric was to ask. She placed her hands on her hips to try and look more confident.

"I actually wanted to talk about Doug."

"I'm all ears little elf." Zeek was surprisingly cooperative. Alice had thought he would have at least tried to avoid the subject. Murder was a big deal, and the case wasn't even solved yet. Hell, even his life was in danger! Did he not understand how dangerous the subject even was? Was he really okay with talking about Doug's murder?

"Uh…" Alice was at a loss for words. How could she possibly talk about Doug in front of Eric without sounding like a total nut? Zeek didn't even look worried at all, and he was a witness to his friend's murder! Why wasn't he worried about some girl he's never met before who wants to talk about his friends murder in which she was sure nobody else was suppose to know about? He had to have been high, because there was no way any normal human being would be so willing to talk with her over such a serious subject. Alice leaned against the foldout table and looked to the floor. She was hesitating, and she didn't know how to stop.

"Are you okay little elf? You look pale."

Alice held up both her hands in front of her. "I'm fine, I'm…" But Alice's speech was cut short. Her eyes stopped to look out the little window on the door, and she spotted two people she really did not want to see. It was brief, but she recognized the mop of red hair and the black aura that followed it. A shiver ran down her spine and made her toes curl. "Ah oh," She unconsciously said out loud.

"What is it?" Eric looked out the window. Of course the red hair and bad aura was gone before he could see anything.

"Oh man," Zeek stood up from the couch. "I'm sensing some real murderous vibes from outside."

Alice couldn't tell him he was wrong. She was more than sure that Mello wanted to kill someone. She just happened to be the target. She also wondered if Zeek had some psychic ability. He seemed very in tune with his surroundings. Or it could have been the marijuana talking. She wasn't one to judge though.

"I think we should drive somewhere more privet. This place is still too crowded." Alice exhaled.

Eric started to laugh under his breath, as if the situation was stressful, yet funny at the same time. Alice was starting to get worried about him. He should have just stayed behind.

"Where could we possibly go that's more remote then this? The desert?"

"Oh man, I love the desert. You can see so many stars at night." Zeek snorted out a laugh. Alice only wished she could be as happy as Zeek was.

"The desert would be perfect," Alice agreed quickly. It didn't matter where she went, as long as she got out of that parking lot. Her only hope was that Matt and Mello didn't see her. They didn't come to the RV. They were walking the opposite direction, but it was close enough to scare her.

"I was joking darlin',"

"I'm serious. We should go now." Alice started toward the door. She would drive the damn thing if she had to, as long as it meant getting away from Matt and Mello.

"Wait, Ace! We can't just drive off to the desert!" Eric tried to stop her. Zeek jumped in before he could.

"Chill my man, little elf has got the right idea. The desert would be a great place to hang out and chat. I would listen to her. I get the vibes she knows what she's doing."

Alice wanted to kiss Zeek right then and there. She wouldn't have known what to do without him. He saved her from having to fight it out with Eric.

"Vibes? Are you right in the head?" Eric started to get angry. Alice was out the RV before it got any worse. She ran over to the front and pulled on the driver side door. Unfortunately it was locked. She started to panic. She didn't want to be outside for too long. The longer she was exposed, the easier it was for Matt and Mello to find her.

"Wait my sister," She heard Zeek come around the corner. "I should be driven. I know a sweet place that was once owned by some Native Americans."

Alice stepped aside for Zeek to open his door.

"Ace, wait!" Eric came around the corner fuming. That wasn't a good sign. "You're not seriously going to drive to some desert with this guy, are you?"

"Zeek is my friend Eric." Alice was straight forward. Eric didn't take that statement lightly. He wasn't convinced. "Listen Eric, I want to thank you for worrying about me. You've been really helpful, and fun, but I have to do this." She softened her voice. It seemed to help. Eric looked like he was relaxing his shoulders. "You have every right to hate me right now, but I think it's best if you went back home."

Eric looked away from her for a moment to process what she just asked. She was literally tossing him aside, and she knew how rude she was being. But if it meant she could save him from knowing the crazy side of her and or getting hurt by Mello, then she was more than willing to be the bitch. All she had to wait for now was to see Eric storm off back to his truck. She would lose a good friend, but at least it would be in a way that was normal.

"No."

For a moment, Alice wasn't sure what he just said. She had to repeat the word in her head. Did she hear him right?"

"No?"

"I'm coming with you." He crossed his arms. He was being incredibly stubborn, and for some reason, Alice liked that. There was hope for him yet.

"Alright! It's going to be a party!" Zeek started to laugh, jumping up into the truck. Alice must have caught Zeek's enthusiasm, because the next thing she knew, she was sitting in-between Zeek and Eric in the truck, smiling to herself as if she were about eat an orange. In no time, she, Eric and Zeek were on their way out the parking lot and driving on the freeway. Alice never felt so proud of herself. She managed yet again to elude some of the greatest detectives in the world. She had to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. It seemed too good to be true.

* * *

"Fucking idiot!"

"Ah, Mello, why don't you tell me how you really feel?" Matt crossed his arms as he looked around the lot.

"I can't believe the bitch just left!" Mello ran a hand through his hair aggressively. They had been so close to her, and yet she managed to run away once again. Mello was about to send his fist through one of the windows of the cars around him. It was either that, or he was going to hit Matt, and he sort of still needed him around.

"I have to give her credit. She's gotten this far with us still tailing her." Matt smirked, looking inside of a silver Toyota corolla. His eyes scanned the interior diligently.

"The bitch thinks she's so smart." Mello growled.

"Well she isn't dumb." Matt shrugged his shoulders, turning away from the Toyota. Mello finally noticed his friend looking inside of another car. His frown deepened.

"Will you just pick one!" He snapped.

"Hey, I have high standers for chasing fugitives. Some crappy Honda is going to cut it. I need a mustang or something with muscle."

"The fugitive is getting away!" Mello threw his hands up in the air. Matt shrugged him off and continued his search. Walking down an isle of vehicles with Mello fuming behind him, Matt gave each car a once over. When Matt spotted a car in bright red, he knew it was the right one. Smirking proudly, he ran over to the Mustang and eyed it hungrily. It was a GT 2010 Mustang in bright red. What made it even better were the white stripes running across the top of the body.

"Found our next ride." Matt reached in his pocket. He pulled his little kit to pick locks and bent in front of the door. Just when he was about to start the process, a slight breeze whizzed over his left shoulder, and a shower of glass burst above him over his head. Matt fell onto his butt and cursed loudly, trying to cover his head from the pieces of glass.

"SHIT!"

The alarm on the car started to blare loudly, whooping and screeching repeatedly. Mello walked over Matt's shrunken form and reached his hand inside the newly broken window. He unlocked the door, and kicked at Matt to get up.

"It's open." Mello grunted at Matt.

"Damn it Mello!" Matt had to jump up from the ground. He opened the driver side door with a heavy jerk and plunged his head down toward the pedals. He had to get the alarm to shut off before anybody would come to investigate. Luckily the lot was empty, so Matt got the alarm to stop without any unwanted visitors. When he was finished, he glared at the rock on the driver's seat. Mello had thrown it to break the window. "Impatient basterd." He grumbled, tossing the rock out the car behind him.

"Let's go," Mello opened the passenger side door. When he was inside, he tapped his foot impatiently. Matt sighed heavily for the damaged car and started to work on the wires. Creating a spark, he got the engine to roar to life. "About time," Mello sneered. Matt gave him a small glare and got in the front seat. He shut his door and listened to the little pieces of glass fall to the blacktop. Just like the pieces of his heart breaking. He really liked the Mustang. Hearing Matt sigh again, Mello's eye started to twitch.

"It's not even your damn car! Get over it!"

* * *

The drive to the desert was a lot faster than Alice would have thought. It seemed just outside of Houston, there was an endless supply of desert. Along the way, Zeek decided they should meditate out all their so called "bad vibes". It seemed there was enough built up tension in the car, to even make Zeek feel uncomfortable. Alice thought the meditation only made Eric more annoyed. But Alice could live through a little tension. It was Matt and Mello that she feared the most. Every once in a while she would look to one of the side mirrors to see if there was any car following them. Her first instinct was to look for red, since that was Matt's preference. Thankfully there was no such car for miles. At some point they even got onto a road where they were the only ones driving. Being out in the middle of nowhere reminded Alice of the barn. It was a mix of emotions for her since it reminded her of L and Near, while at the same time the uncomfortable feeling of not being surrounded by a large city. She was once again out of her element. But putting aside her jumbled up state, she focused on the speech she was about to give. She still wasn't sure how she was going to explain her predicament, but ever since she found Doug in the RV, she felt a little more at ease. He would hopefully help her with the explanation.

"Were almost there," Zeek sounded excited. Alice wondered how Zeek could be so accepting of her. It was only moments ago they just met, and he was already driving to some desert with her to talk. And now that she thought about it, Eric was pretty much the same. Were all Texans this inviting?

"I know this area. There's a small town just 20 miles from here." Eric watched out his window.

"Yeah dude, that little town has got some crazy yummy snackage. They have a bakery that been open for like hundreds of _years_!"

Alice felt her stomach growl. She had skipped breakfast, and muffins sounded amazing. Zeek must have heard her stomach since he started to laugh.

"Little elf has got the right idea, we should get something to eat."

"No!" Alice was fast to respond. She cleared her throat when Eric gave her an odd look. "I mean, we need to talk first." She explained herself. She didn't have time to eat. Matt and Mello were close to catching her and she needed to help Doug. She promised him.

"Chill little elf, I understand. We can snack later." Zeek shrugged her off playfully. It seemed her blunt answer didn't affect him in the least. Alice was relieved.

"So how much further?" Eric watched the road in front of him turn into sand. Zeek had turned off the pavement, and was kicking up dust behind him as if his exhaust produced sand instead of the carbonation. It was a giant cloud that followed them, giving Alice no visibility to see if anyone was following them. She didn't like that.

"Just up ahead. You see that rock formation that looks like a hippo?"

"Hippo?'" Alice squinted her eyes. In the distant there was a large red rock, but Alice wasn't sure it looked like a hippo. When they got closer, that's when Alice saw it. The rock did indeed look like a hippo; a big fat red hippo, standing in the middle of the desert. "Well would you look at that, a hippo." She was impressed.

"Mother nature sure is creative," Zeek chuckled. Alice found it humors as well, but she only responded with a smile. The upcoming talk was making her heart race. She didn't have it in her to laugh anymore. When Zeek finally stopped the RV, Everyone was quick to escape to the outside to take a deep breath. It hadn't been a long drive, but Alice had felt suffocated under the pressure. Eric looked happy to be outside as well.

Alice walked over to large hippo rock and touched the side. It was warm to the touch and rough on her smooth skin. The heat from the sun up above was refreshing at first, but she was sure it would get worse later. Especially since she was still wearing thigh high boots and a mini dress. As Zeek stretched in the sun, Alice noticed Doug finally appear next to her. Through thin air, he appeared as a fine mist at first, but turned solid as he got closer to her. She was extremely happy to see him, even if he still looked sickly.

"Zeek doesn't know about the bag that I took." He whispered, even though he didn't have too. It wasn't as if Eric or Zeek would be able to hear him. Alice's lips formed a hard line across her face.

"Bag?" She exhaled quietly. It seemed Doug was crunched for time as well since he was getting straight to the point.

"The money I took from my dealer. He gave me a bad deal, so I stole his profit and took back my money. I put the bag in the floor compartment in the bedroom of the RV."

Alice felt the blood rush from her face. "But Joseph's been capture by L. The killer is behind bars." Her voice sounded distant. Even though she wanted to believe in her statement, she had a bad feeling that it didn't matter. And Doug proved her right when he started to choke on his words.

"Joseph wasn't the only one after me."

That got Alice moving. She had to see it with her own eyes. It didn't matter to her that Eric was calling her name or that Zeek was giving her a questioning look. She walked right by and opened the RV front door. She took the two steps up with gusto and quickly made her way toward the back, past the beaded door. Her breathing got heavier. Doug was right behind her, pointing to a portion of the floor. She followed his finger and noticed a sliver of the shag carpet that seemed out of place. She reached down and felt under the thick fur floor. A tiny piece of wood caught her attention. She tugged on the knob and felt the floor move with her.

"Ace!" Eric stormed into the RV. Alice ignored him and lifted the trap door. Her breath caught in her throat when she found a black duffle bag inside the small compartment. Just as Doug had said. She didn't have to open the bag to know there would be money in it, and judging by how large the bag was, she assumed there was going to be a lot. "What are you doing?" Eric asked from behind her. Alice shook her head back and forth in disbelief. What had she gotten herself into?

"This is not good," she said out loud to nobody in particular.

"What's not good?" Eric was getting frustrated. "What is that Ace?" He then watched her pull out the bag. She pushed past Eric forcefully with the bag and set the thing on top of the foldout table. "Ace!" Eric raised his voice more.

"What's with the yelling man?" Zeek casually walked inside, not picking up on Alice's racing heart, or Eric's frustration. With the bag on the table, there wasn't any more reason for her to keep stalling. She had to start talking, whether she was going to be dubbed crazy or not. Taking in a deep breath, she unzipped the bag. Stacks of bills appeared in piles, threatening to spill out the side if she didn't hold it up straight. Zeek stopped just before the kitchen and stared at the bag with wide eyes. Alice wasn't sure what Eric was doing since he had become awfully quiet.

"Holy cow! You found treasure! Are you a pirate?" Zeek gasped loudly. Alice wanted to slap him over the head. That was not the kind of reaction she wanted to hear.

"You don't know what this is?" She stared at Zeek. Doug stood right behind him, giving Alice a pleading look.

"He didn't know about the money. Stealing the money was my plan. Zeek didn't even bye from my dealer. He has a different friend who grows marijuana."

Alice wasn't going to accept Doug's plea until she heard it from the source. She waited until she got an answer from Zeek.

"I didn't know I had that much money. If I would have known about the buried treasure, then I'm sure I would be driving in a bigger RV then this." Zeek found the situation humors. He was laughing while running his hand through his long hair.

"What is going on Ace?" Eric finally spoke. Alice let go of the bag and let some of the bills fall out. The thump of the bills hitting the table seemed to echo among the room.

"Eric," she began. "I wasn't being completely honest with you." She turned slowly to face him. Looking into his eyes, Alice forced a lump down her throat. She immediately saw a sadness behind those eyes. The last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt him. "Zeek here is trouble, and I asked you to drive me to Houston to find him, because I wanted warn him of the danger. I don't want you getting hurt, which is why I didn't want you to hear any of this." Her eyes gravitated toward the ground.

"What kind of danger is this?" Eric was surprisingly calm. But he sure wasn't laughing or smiling anymore. To answer his question, Alice had to confront Zeek with what Doug had told her earlier.

"Doug stole this money." She faced Zeek. Zeek finally lost his smile. It was a small change, but it was enough to make Alice choke down another lump.

"Then that's why that man came and killed him." Zeek's words were drifting off.

"Killed? You mean Doug was murdered?" Eric stepped in more aggressively. Zeek looked away, hurt clearly written over his face. The silence in the room only made Eric even angrier. Alice wasn't speaking and Zeek kept his focus on the ground. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" He stepped in front of Alice, trying to catch her gaze. She finally gave in and looked into his eyes. There was so much emotion behind them, Alice couldn't focus on one. She opened her mouth to speak, but Eric interrupted her. "Do the police know about this?"

Alice features turned from saddened to panic. It was exactly what she expected from Eric. She had to get him away from the idea of calling the police.

"I work for a detective who was assigned the case. They are currently under operations that I can't give you full detail about, but they are working hard to get the bad guy behind bars."

"You're a cop?" Eric was surprised. He almost looked relieved, but Alice wasn't quite sure what the emotion was.

"Not exactly. I work for them, more as an informant." She tried to explain. She was already giving away more then she wanted too, but at least she was staying away from the idea of calling the police. Eric seemed to accept her answer. He took a step back and rubbed his hand over his mouth, staring off into some unknown distance. Zeek was still quiet. Shifting back and forth on each leg, he stared at the ground as if a movie was playing inside of his head. Alice even wondered if he had heard anything she had just said.

The sound of dirt and tires interrupted their silence. Alice felt her stomach do flips. She jerked toward the little window to see outside and there, flashing from the bright rays of the sun, was a brilliant red Mustang with white stripes. Alice gasped for some much needed air. She wasn't ready to face them. She wasn't ready to get dragged back to L. She still had to save Zeek. She had to help Doug cross over.

"Shit!" She cursed sharply. Eric looked out the window at the Mustang coming to a stop.

"Who's that?" He sounded defensive, tensing up his muscle just in case.

"Eric, stay in the RV. Do not come out! Don't worry about them. They are my part of the investigation team." She tried to ease his troubled thoughts. She had hoped telling him they were part of the police would have calmed him down, but it didn't seem to do much. She saw his jaw clench and his neck muscles tighten. Luckily it didn't seem like he was going to move. Alice gave Zeek a glance, but he still was off in his own world. At least she wouldn't have to stop him. Taking a deep breath, she reached for the door.

"Ace," Eric whispered, sending a chill down her spine. "I'm not sure what's going on right now, but I'm going to be watching out for you." He sounded serious. Alice gave him one last look before she opened the door. It was brief, but she gave a smile to thank him. She didn't know how else to thank him. He had done so much for her already. And she wasn't even sure if she was ever going to see him after talking with Matt and Mello. Whatever was going to happen, she at least wanted to leave Eric with some form of appreciation. His dedication and stubbornness wouldn't go unnoticed by her.

Stepping down onto the hot sand, Alice heard the door shut behind her. Waves of heat morphed the scene in front of her. When she tried to focus on the red Mustang, it seemed to just ripple. The wind blew her hair and stuck to her neck. The sweat was starting to form beads on her forehead. It seemed the heat was finally getting to her. She wouldn't be surprised if she found sunburns on her body. The two doors on each side of the Mustang opened. Alice's heart skipped a beat. She needed to step away from the RV so Zeek and Eric wouldn't be able to hear her. So with a heavy quivering sign, she slowly made her way toward the Mustang. On the driver's side, boots emerged, along with a mop of red hair. On the passenger's side, another pair of boots stepped out. Matt was the first to exit, sporting a pair of aviators. It seemed his goggles weren't good enough to shield him from the sun. Alice's walk ended when she saw Mello come out next. Her legs wouldn't respond to her after she saw those bright blue eyes. The scene felt like slow motion for her. Was it really the end of her quest?

"Ace," She heard Matt speak first, sounding utterly relieved. Not what she really expected. Matt wanted to continue speaking, but Mello stepped in quickly.

"You're a pain in my ass, you know that?" He growled, stomping over to Alice until he was a foot away from her. Alice really wanted to smile and say something sarcastic to him in return, but there had already been so much going on, she just didn't have it in her. It seemed Mello wasn't going to wait for a response anyway, because the next thing Alice knew, she was being dragged by Mello toward the car. "We're leaving, now."

"Mello, wait!" Alice struggled in his grip. When he tightened his hold, Alice felt the adrenaline pulse through her veins. With the extra strength she produced, she managed to break free from his hold. "I said wait!" She shouted once she was free. Mello gave her a glare that could shatter glass. "I'm not going back yet. I'm not done."

"Not done? What is L making you do?" Mello tilted his head up. He sounded cocky. Alice was taken aback by the question. Since when did L have to do with any of it?

"L isn't making me do anything…" Her words formed a question unconsciously.

"The last we heard from you, L was sending you out on a secret little mission." Matt walked up behind Mello with his arms cross.

"L has nothing to do with this." Alice started to get defensive. She didn't want to get L involved with any of her problems. He had done nothing wrong, and it wouldn't be fair if he got blamed for her mistakes. But it didn't seem Mello was going to believe her. For whatever reason, the past few days Mello and Matt have had a problem with L. She wasn't sure why they were turning against him, but she didn't want to be the catalyst that gave them the right to distrust him.

"Cut the bullshit!" Mello's words turned sharp. Matt stepped in before it got worse.

"I think it would best if you came with us Ace. We could explain this better to you somewhere less humid and dry." Matt tired his two cents. Alice shook her head no.

"I told you I'm not done. I can't leave with you." She stuck her ground. It was the wrong answer. Mello started to turn red.

"What the hell do you see in that basterd anyway?"

Alice had no idea what Mello was talking about. He was clearly angry, but Alice couldn't point out where the frustration was coming from.

"What are you talking about?"

Matt was the one to answer her question next.

"L seems to have this fascination with you,"

_Oh god…_Alice panicked. She should have know they would get suspicious of her and L. They probably already knew about the experiments. But how much did they really know?

"Fascination?" She tried to keep calm.

"You need to forget about him. He's not somebody you can trust." Mello started to growl again. Alice didn't like that statement one bit. If there was anybody in the world she could trust, it was L. He and Watari were the only ones to ever accept her. How could Mello ever say such cruel words?

"Don't say that." Alice hardened her voice.

"Are you protecting him?" Mello stepped closer to her. She didn't move an inch.

"This is L we are talking about right?" Alice felt her voice crack. "How could you say such things about L? He has been nothing but a good friend to us all!"

"You've only know him for a month! You don't anything about him!" Mello started to shout.

"I know he accepts me! He cares about me when everyone else just shunned me away!" Her emotions took over. She was losing it. She didn't know what she was saying. It probably wasn't very wise of her to even admit her true feelings. She had felt the same way about everyone else in the Wammy, but L knew the real her, and not the silly act she put on to protect herself.

"HE'S GOING TO END UP KILLING YOU!" Mello lost it. Matt had to grab his arm to hold him back. Alice felt her vision start to blur. What was happening to her family? Why did Mello feel this way about L? She just couldn't wrap her head around the hate Mello was throwing at her. The only response she could give him was her head shaking no. L would never hurt her. She had no doubt in her mind about that. They were wrong.

"Please Ace; we came here to protect you. There is something off with L, and we just want to make sure that he can't hurt you while we investigate it further." Matt tried to be the voice of reason among all the emotion.

"Investigate what? L has done nothing wrong. He's not the bad guy." Alice held back some tears. She wasn't going to cry. Not in front of them.

"Stop protecting him!"

"Stop accusing him!" Alice yelled right back at Mello.

"What is it that he told you on all those little missions you supposedly helped him with? Did he tell you that he was always going to be there for you? Did he promise you the fucking moon?"

Alice gapped at Mello. Never did she think she would hear an accusation like that. It was then she realized the truth. It was finally clear to her. It wasn't her little curse that had been exposed. It was a theory of her and L having a secret relationship. She looked to the sky for a moment to clear her head and eyes from the tears. Mello and Matt thought her and L were secret lovers. She would have laughed, but she couldn't even form a smile. The fight wasn't really about her supposed relationship with L anyway. It was about L himself, and how much of a good guy he really was.

"L and I are not together in a relationship."

Mello laughed once, clearly not believing a word she said. He was quick to revert to his glare.

"Then let's hear it. Why would L bring you along to France?"

What was she going to tell him? The truth? She couldn't possibly do that. She had promised herself and L that she would keep their little experiments a secret. But Mello was accusing L of being a bad guy. Would telling him the truth help ease Mello away from such falsity? Or would it make matters worse? Alice just wanted to close her eyes and wake up in her bed at the Wammy house. She wanted this all to be a dream. With a shaky voice, Alice whispered out her answer.

"I can't tell you."

Something in Mello seemed to deflate. The hardness in his features seemed to soften. Even his eyes lost the sharp blades behind their glare.

"Please Ace, come with us." It almost sounded like a plea. For a moment, Alice saw a sadness behind his eyes. And for a moment, she wanted to say yes. But she stopped herself before she did. She couldn't forget about Doug or the accusations Mello and Matt had of L.

Alice forced out a whisper, "no."

The anger immediately came back in a flash of red over his cheeks and neck.

"HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" Mello started to sound desperate.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Alice returned with the same amount of desperation.

"Maybe if you tell us why you were in France with L, then we could possibly rethink our assumptions about him. But you have to tell us the truth Ace." Matt was surprisingly keeping a level head. Alice didn't know how he was doing it. And he sounded convincing too. Maybe he was right. Maybe she should just tell them the truth. That way she could explain why she had run away in the first place, and that L had nothing to do with her little journey. L was a logical person who accepted her. So Matt and Mello could be the same way. Right?

"You want to know the truth?" Alice managed to pull off a smile. It lasted for a second, and quivered with her hands, but she was proud of it none the less. Mello and Matt grew quiet. They didn't want to miss a word. Alice wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, but holding the truth back anymore wasn't going to make it better. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. The sand made her voice scratch.

"L has been putting me through experimentation. For the past few weeks we have been trying to assemble evidence to prove I have psychic abilities."

For a moment, the only sound Alice could make out was the wind. It was as if the surrounding area turned mute around them. The echoes from their yelling had long sensed passed, leaving them in utter silence. It was uncomfortable for her. She wanted to wriggle free from the restraints of the silence. It was Mello who broke those restraints. And she wished she never heard the words come out of his mouth.

"Out of all the bullshit you can come up with to weasel your way out of trouble, you always seem to come up with something clever. But this…this excuse…this stupid last resort attempt you're trying to use is just pathetic."

Alice felt a tear spill down her cheek. Mello continued on without stopping.

"A psychic? That's what you come up with? STOP BULLSHITING ME!"

"I'm not lying!" Alice cried.

"FINE! YOU WANT TO END UP DEAD! SEE IF I CARE!"

"I can see spirits Mello! I can sense things! Please believe me!"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Mello jerked away from her, throwing his fists in air and kicking at the sand. He stomped over to the car, making sure to take out as much anger at the sand as possible. "IF YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE MARIA, THEN SEE IF I GIVE A DAMN!"

"I'M NOT LYING!" Alice felt more tears trail down her cheek.

"YOU'RE A GOD DAMN NUT, YOU KNOW THAT?" They were Mello's last words toward her. It cut deep inside her heart. It felt like somebody just punched her in the chest. Her words turned into a chocked out cry. _She wasn't…she wasn't…_

Alice turned to Matt who hadn't moved from his spot. He hadn't even said a word to her, but he didn't have to. His face said it all. Alice could see it in his eyes from behind his shades. His expression looked drained. There was a plea in his eyes, but nothing that said he accepted her. He didn't believe her either, and there was nothing Alice could do to change that. But that didn't stop her from trying.

"Matt," She whimpered. "Please believe me."

Matt opened his mouth to speak, but Mello interrupted.

"MATT, LET'S GO NOW!"

Matt turned his head slightly toward Mello. Alice wanted to grab his arm to stop him, but she couldn't move. Giving her one last look, Matt backed away slowly toward the Mustang. Mello was quick to get in the driver's side. He didn't want to waste any more time with her. Yelling at Matt once more, he got Matt to move faster.

"No…wait…" Alice whispered with tear stained cheeks. They cracked under the dry heat. "You have to believe me!" Her voice got louder. It did nothing to stop Matt from getting inside the car. Once the door had shut, Mello didn't waste any time peeling out in the sand and causing a dust storm.

"MATT!" Alice cried out as the Mustang started to drive away. She finally got her feet to move, and she was running right into the dust cloud where the car used to be.

"MELLO!" Her cried turned into wail. "I'M NOT LYING! PLEASE BELIEVE ME!" Her cry was useless. Their car was too far away by that point. Gasping for air, she collapsed to her knees and watched the little dot that was their Mustang, fade into the horizon. "I'm not…" She started to say but stopped herself. What was she going to say? That she wasn't crazy? Well that was lie. She was a nut, just like Mello said. She was crazy to think they would accept her so easily. She should have known that they would leave her, just like they all did in the past. She was crazy to think she could have a family that she could open up too. L was too good to be true, and she just ruined her chance to ever see him again. There was no possibility of her ever going back to the Wammy house after what had just happened with Matt and Mello. They would tell everyone back home what she was and they would shun her just the same. Alice covered her mouth with both of her hands and leaned her head toward the ground. Tears hit the dry earth which absorbed it hungrily. Her sobs hurt her stomach, but the pain was nothing compared to what she felt in her heart.

She was an utter fool.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**I Am Pandora, torixx3, Bebbingtoe, Saber Amane, Iron-Gear Serpant, Ironicsheep, kapibarasan, ****GodsOfDeathLikeApples, ****Neon Knightly, ****Serendipita, ****hikari-hime 01, ****tootsiepop101, Silver Levi,** **Tony the chord-chomping cat**, **chabitso.0, XBloodMageRikaX, and wolf neko. **(I hope I didn't come off as being a demanding asshole in the opening...I just wanted to test out the dictator side of me. It made me feel powerful...I liked it...*cough*...so...I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. **=)** Thank you all for reviewing me!)

** KanrasLittleSerpent: **That bird sounds amazing! Now I want one!

**Speckles719: **Aw, thank you for caring about my health! I'll try to keep myself away from any spine breaking scenarios and shiny sharp objects (Though they are _REALLY_ shiny...maybe just one touch...)**. **No, no. I will refrain from such foolery. My focus should be on writing anyway!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **You know, if it was me, I would just start blowing them out like crazy. And if you are an organized nut like me, I would do it in order. My brain wouldn't recognize a pattern anyway, it's switches off in stressful situations.

**MsBlondiePunch: **I wouldn't really know what to do, but that's an interesting idea. I'll have to think about it. Great suggestion!

**Yumeno: **A genius! Me? I don't think so. My math is questionable, and my ability in science is limited to sucking an egg down a plastic bottle by using heat. But, thank you for your praise! It makes me so happy to know that I can have so many characters that are unique and important enough to be recognized. "Thread" is a good word to describe the storylines. _Merci! _**  
**

**Darlia Minx: **Don't doubt yourself! Trust me, it wont take much to reach my so called "level" you believe I have. I am merely an amateur trying to improve upon a skill I so desperately need improving upon. But I am really happy to know that I have made you laugh! I LOVE humor, so it's fun to write. I'm sure you have the skill to write humor as well. Just as long as you stay on your computer chair and not bruise your behind, then I'm sure you can create something amazing! I laughed when I read your review, so you obviously have a head start.** =D** As for Alice's feelings towards L, shes spacy, which is why you haven't read much about how she feels. Her feelings will show soon, just keep on reading. **  
**


	43. Acceptance

Hey people,

Guess what?

This is the 42nd chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

EPIC RIGHT?

I'm so giddy right now, I need to do some jumping jacks!

One!...Two!...Three!...*breaths heavily*...Four!...Five...

_Oh god_ *Gasps for air*

That was a bad idea...

Enjoy the chapter!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. I also _REALLY_ suck at anything that requires a tremendous amount of physical activity...)**  
**

* * *

**Acceptance **

It was as if she was looking down at herself on the ground. All she could see was a hunched over girl, pressing her head to the earth as if she wanted to bury herself under the hot sand. But her strength only caused her to leave a burn across her forehead. Her tears had dried up as fast as they had come. The sand had soaked them up, leaving no trace of her heartache. But the pain was still there, no matter how hard she tried to get it to stop. Alice wanted this girl to stop crying. She wanted to give this girl a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay. But deep down inside she couldn't bring herself to take action. Because she knew it was only her façade trying to surface. It was her doppelganger of fake happiness that was watching her, and it didn't take long for her to disappear. There wasn't any reason for her to be there anymore. Alice had nobody else to hide from, because there was nobody else she cared enough about to fake a smile to.

Somewhere in the distance, Alice could hear Eric calling out to her, but she couldn't make it out clearly. He wasn't using her real name. He was using the name she created for herself. Her fake name to match with her forgotten fake happiness. She couldn't possibly face him. Not after her heart was torn apart. She didn't have it in her to smile anymore, and she couldn't let Eric see her broken.

"Ace!" She felt hands grip her shoulders. They were strong hands, trying to lift her from the ground. She fought back. She refused to show her tears. When he noticed her defiance, he whispered her name out loud. He bent his head forward and touched his forehead to the top of her own head. It was subtle, but it got Alice to open her eyes. "Please don't cry darlin'. I'll listen to you."

"Here some water for the little pirate-police-elf." She heard Zeek come onto the scene. Eric lifted his head and grabbed the bottle from Zeek's outstretched hand. He thanked Zeek, and turned back to Alice.

"You should drink some water first. You ran into that dust storm without thinking. Your throat must feel like pins and needles now." Eric softened his tone, putting the bottle next to Alice. She slowly lifted her head from the sand, feeling both their stares along the way. Her mouth was slightly ajar. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. If they had watched her run after the boys, then what else had they seen or heard? Lifting her head the rest of the way, her eyes locked with Eric's in front of her. Red rimmed her eyes like a raccoon, and they look swollen. Her cheeks were flushed, most likely from dehydration. Eric wasn't smiling, but he didn't look upset either. His expression was neutral, leaving Alice no immediate answer. Scooting the bottle closer to her, Eric made it his first priority to get her to drink.

"What did you…?" Alice started to speak, but Eric put a hand in front of her to make her stop.

"Don't talk yet, drink." He ordered. Zeek got onto his knees to join them, and unscrewed the lid to the bottle. Alice took a moment away from Eric to look at Zeek. She wanted to pinch herself to see if she was awake. Zeek was smiling! Out of all the emotions he could have been feeling, he was smiling? As if he was happy! Even after she had just spoke with him about his murdered friend. Alice couldn't comprehend how somebody could smile so quickly after such an emotional topic. If only Alice could smile like Zeek. Then maybe she wouldn't have felt so crummy. When Zeek handed her the bottle, Alice couldn't find the strength to lift her hand. She was too enamored with his smile; his carefree smile that sent a warm light through her body.

"Drink up little pirate-police-elf." His smile got bigger. It was_ that_ smile that got her hand to move. She hadn't realized it until she was holding the bottle in her hand. The condensation was cold to the touch, and it felt good to finally feel something other than a dull pain in her chest.

"Thank you." She managed to say with her dry cracked lips. After feeling the little drops of water touch her hand, she realized how dry her throat was. Eric was right; it did feel like pins and needles. Hungrily, she drank the water as if she had gone days without it. By the time she was finished, two thirds of the water was gone.

"Feel better?" Eric asked, taking the bottle from her. She nodded her head and closed her eyes. Her heart still ached, but at least her throat wasn't filled with sand. "Good, now come with me." Eric grabbed her arm. Alice's eyes snapped open with surprise as she was lifted up.

"Whaa?" was all she managed to say as she was forced toward the RV.

"Don't worry little pirate-police-elf. We are here to listen to you. Not judge. We just want to hear the truth man." He sounded excited. Alice was baffled. Zeek was even happier the then time she first met him. How could that even be possible?

By the time Alice was pushed into the RV, she was already forced onto the couch and told to not get up. Eric and Zeek stood opposite from her, one with a serious expression, while the other looked as if he was in a state of bliss. If Alice hadn't just been heartbroken, then she would have found the scene funny to look at.

"It's time to sing." Zeek leaned back against the wall. Alice gave him a questioning look. Eric crossed his arms and sighed.

"He means talk." Eric explained, sounding annoyed. Alice had never noticed before, but it looked like Zeek and Eric were becoming quite comfortable with each other. Even though Eric was persistent and a little up tight, he seemed to have found a friend out of Zeek. Alice liked that.

"How much did you hear?" was her first question. Though somehow, she already knew the answer. Her voice still cracked, but she managed to ignore it, and so did Eric and Zeek.

"You guys were loud man!" Zeek threw his arms out, as if to show how loud she was. "Lots of screaming from the little blonde dude."

Alice bit the bottom of her lip. The memory came flooding back like a wave of nausea. She felt sick to her stomach.

"Who's L?" Eric stopped her thoughts from going any further. She released her bottom lip and looked up at Eric with a sad expression.

"You're not supposed to know about him."

"I reckon that don't matter much now."

Alice agreed with Eric. It wasn't as if she was going to be welcomed back to the Wammy house. And L was famous anyway. She wouldn't be revealing any secrets the public didn't already know.

"Do you know who the most famous detective in the world is?"

"Detective?" Eric arched an eyebrow.

"Sherlock Holms, right? I've read about him is some books before." Zeek tried at the question. Eric sighed heavily again.

"No, not Sherlock Holms," Alice answered before Eric could correct him. "L is known as the greatest detective in the world, and as of now, he is working on a case here in Texas."

"Wait man! You must be talking about the guy who caught that serial killer back in California. That detective dude has got some serious skillage!" Zeek's excitement grew. Alice hadn't a clue of what Zeek was talking about. L was known for catching serial killers, so it could have been him in California, but she never heard about any of his old cases.

"I think I heard about that a few years ago."

"Yeah dude, L totally caught that killer and sent his behind to jail." Zeek was enjoying the conversation, smiling brightly at Eric. Eric didn't seem to be as excited as Zeek was. He returned to Alice who was hunched over in her seat, looking as if she could cry again at any moment.

"You're working for L then, aren't you," he stated.

"I was…" Alice's throat caught. She swallowed back her tears. "I was working for him."

"And what about those two that you fought with? Did you work with them as well?"

Alice nodded her head, finding it easier then talking. The water may have helped her dry throat, but it didn't stop the choking back of tears. She had merely just restocked her body for a new set to come.

"You should find a new job little pirate-police-elf. If those are your work buddies, then I sure wouldn't want to work with them." Zeek offered some advice. It only made Alice feel worse, even with his cute expanded new nick name. Eric noticed her depression worsen, and stepped in quickly before he could completely lose her.

"Those two kept saying L was going to kill you. What did they mean by that? If what you say about L is true, then why would a justice of law want to murder you?"

Alice was stuck with the same question running through her head as well. Mello had screamed at her that L was out to kill her, and yet she continued to believe L was a saint. That nothing of the sort could happen. But did she really take the time to think over his assumption? What if they knew something about L that she didn't? She had only just recently learned of a serial killer case he solved in California, so there was no doubt in her mind there was more about L she didn't know. The only bases for her trust in L was that fact that he was giving her a chance to prove she had psychic abilities. He was the first one to ever not call her crazy and walk away. So she of course put all of her faith in him. But should she have ruined her friendship with the first family she loved, all for the sake of believing in L? Alice just wanted to rip all her hair out and scream at the top of her lungs. None of it was making any more sense to her.

"I don't know what they were talking about," she ran both her hands through her hair, pulling on it a little to try and see if she could at least rip out some of the loose strands.

"He sounded serious man," Zeek finally lost the humor in his voice, although Alice wasn't sure if he was taking the conversation as serious as she and Eric were.

"L wouldn't hurt me." Alice automatically claimed, even though she was still on the fence about the idea. It seemed her gut was speaking before her brain could. Eric bit at the inside of his cheek and stared off at the wall behind her. Alice wasn't sure what he was thinking about, but it didn't look like he was enjoying his internal conversation.

"Then who is Maria?"

Alice felt a mental blow to the face, as if a hand had slapped her. The screaming between her and Mello had made Alice numb and unfocused. She hadn't even realized when Mello used Maria's name. But the memory came back like a flash of light. What did Mello mean by ending up like Maria? Did L have something to do with Maria's death? It was those two questions that got Alice's heart to race.

"Maria was another member of the team." Alice answered vaguely. It wasn't as if she really knew anything about her other then Mello and Matt knew her on a personal level. She knew she used to live in the Wammy house before she died. If only she would have been more persistent with Mello about finding out whom she was. Then, maybe, she wouldn't have to struggle for answers she wasn't sure she would ever get.

"And when they said end up like her…they meant…?"

"Dead, Maria is dead."

Eric swayed on his feet in annoyance. Alice could see the muscles in his body tense. He was obviously starting to get uncomfortable with their conversation. But Alice knew the worst questions were coming. She had admitted out loud that she could see the dead, and she wasn't quiet about it. Alice was surprised they haven't even brought it up yet. She wondered if maybe Eric was avoiding it.

"So this L guy killed Maria?"

Alice didn't know how to answer him. She would have loved to know the answer to that as well, but it wasn't as if she could call back Mello and ask. There would only be more yelling and hateful words between them. She was called a nut anyway, so she already had a good idea of what Mello thought of her.

"I don't know," she exhaled. Eric seemed just as exhausted as she was. His muscles were still tense, but he seemed to be losing energy.

"And you're sure he's not out to kill you?"

Without any hesitation, Alice answered, "I'm sure."

"Sounds like there's some miscommunication between you and your buddies." Zeek's wise insight entered the conversation. Alice couldn't agree more.

"You have no idea."

"It's not good for your Chi if you keep fighting like you do. And since you have some superhuman gifts, you got more Chi to deal with than most."

Alice tried to follow Zeek's speech, but she got lost somewhere between _Chi _and _superhuman gifts._ Eric seemed just as thrown off as she was.

"I'm sorry, but what are you trying to say? Are you speaking Chinese or something?" Eric asked first.

"Haven't you ever heard of Chi? It's our life energy man. It's what keeps us alive."

"I thought that's was our blood did."

"Blood's important too man, but it's our Chi that keeps our emotions in balance. It's like our immune system, only way more cosmetically powerful."

"I'm sorry, but I just don't seem to quite understand what were talking about right now…" Alice jumped in with uncertainty.

"You said you were psychic right? That means you got lots of Chi."

Alice's mouth dropped open, thinking maybe she had something to say, but no words came out. Zeek had just dived right into the psychic discussion without a second thought. She hadn't been prepared, and what got her truly speechless was the fact that Zeek seemed to already accept her ability without even considering the notion. Of course, he was spouting out odd remarks about Chi and life energy, so maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised in the first place.

"Psychic's are those people who can see ghosts, right?"

Again, Alice wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the right words. Eric didn't sound at all like she thought he would. She thought he would maybe laugh at the idea or think of her as some mental nut job like Mello. But to her utter surprise, he sounded interested. As if he was asking a genuine question for an answer he would take into consideration without judgment. Out of all the confessions she had given to her friends or family, this one seemed to be the oddest of them all.

"Yeah dude, but not only can they see the dead, they can see the future and look into your soul!"

"Being able to see the future would be pretty useful, though I don't know about looking into somebody soul. I don't know if I would like somebody looking into my private life without my permission," Eric said.

"No dude, it takes a lot of Chi to use that kind of power. Most psychics only see the dead."

"Huh, well I'll be darn."

Alice couldn't feel her body. She was too shocked to even know what her hands or legs were doing. Luckily her hands were on her lap instead of scratching at her head furiously like she thought they would be doing. Eric and Zeek were talking to each other about psychics as if they were discussing the weather! She couldn't believe it! Out of all the scenarios she had been through, she had never once encountered such a conversation. And it was about her! They weren't calling her crazy, they weren't calling her ugly names, and they even haven't thrown anything at her yet! What the _hell_ was going on?

Noticing her white face and silence, Eric stopped his conversation with Zeek long enough to wave a hand in front of her face to try and being her back.

"Hey Ace, you alright?"

It was as if Alice had turned into stone. She couldn't move or speak, even though she so desperately wanted to.

"Maybe she's having one of those visions into the future." Zeek's excitement returned. He quickly pushed Eric aside and got in front of Alice's pale white face. "What do you see little pirate-police-elf?"

She come back too in matter of seconds, realizing that Zeek's face was far to close to her own. She jumped back in her seat and made a yelping noise.

"I'm not having a vision!" She yelled. It wasn't what she wanted to say, but it got Zeek to back off. Sighing heavily, Alice pushed herself back up and grumbled incoherent words to herself. Beside's meeting Watari and L, it was the first time she hadn't been ridiculed yet, so she wasn't sure how to approach them.

"Then you must have seen a ghost. You were as white as one,"

Alice didn't know what to do with Zeek. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hug him, or slap him across the face. He was speaking so casually, that she wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Now wait just one minute. I want an explanation first."

Finally Alice was starting to hear some reason among the RV. It had taken him a while to get there, but Alice was finally going to hear Eric's real thoughts about the matter. On the inside, she mentally prepared herself for the worst. She knew she had already won over Zeek for some odd reason, so even if Eric left, she would still have Zeek. She wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing, but she never denied a good friendship when presented with one. She could ruin a friendship easily like she did with Matt and Mello, but when it came to gaining friends; she was never one to waver.

"When you see these ghost people, do they look see-through, like they do in the movies? Or are they more mist like?"

...

"You look pale again little pirate-police-elf,"

...

Eric gave Zeek an odd look.

"Aren't you getting tired of that long nickname?" He swayed off topic.

"I guess it's a little wordy…"

"Why do you keep calling her that anyway?"

"She said she works for the man, and she found treasure in my RV."

"What about the elf part?"

"She's got the face of an elf. _LoveHearts_ may have been an archer, but the way she's dressed say's elf to me."

"I don't know much about elves, but Ace here has got a name. You could try calling her by that."

Zeek pondered over the thought for a moment, but then shook his head.

"No man, I've already got little elf stuck in my head. I can't change it now."

Alice felt her eye twitch. Eric shrugged his shoulders and accepted Zeek's reasoning. Alice wasn't quite there yet. She wondered if maybe they both had some mental problems themselves, but that was pretty unlikely. Well, except for Zeek. She wasn't sure how much he smoked per day.

"Well I guess it don't matter unless Ace here doesn't like it."

"She's cool with the name, right little elf?"

...

"Does she look paler to you?" Eric inched closer to her face.

"Maybe it's one of her future visions again!"

* * *

L started to bite on his thumb, gnawing on his skin lightly so not to cause any harm. He was annoyed, but not enough to want to cause himself to bleed. For the past hour, he and Near had been looking for Joseph's so called partners; Grill and Hammer. They had investigated the apartment complex that Joseph had said they lived in, but the rooms were empty. No trace of the men living there at all. Checking with the landlord, they had found out they moved just three days ago. After finding out they were on the move, L has been desperate to find another clue to their whereabouts. So far their search has been slow and uneventful.

And not only has his search been frustrating, but thoughts of Alice kept creeping into his mind. Her safety was always a big concern, but it had already been far too long since their separation, and he honestly didn't know what to do with himself. It felt wrong for her to be so far away. Sure he could still see her signal on the tracer, but that was a little red dot blinking on a screen. He would feel much better if she were sitting next to him. He would be able to focus better if he knew she was okay. But alas, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He needed to find those men first before he could go after Alice. Having two killers on the loose worried him much more then Alice having a little adventure of her own. He was confidant that she was fine, taking the time to be independent and free. He just needed to concentrate on his work.

"The credit statements have arrived." Near announced from behind his laptop.

"What was their last purchase?"

"It seems they stopped at a convenience store for lunch."

"The time?"

"Six hours ago."

L didn't leave time to think over his next plan. He already knew to send a team out to investigate the area. Six hours may have seemed like enough time to travel far, but L assumed the broken down vehicle they were driving wasn't going to get them far. He was close to their trail once again, and it was only a matter of time before he would catch them.

"We have a small window of opportunity Near. Contact Sergeant Douse and inform him of the new lead."

"Of course." Near pulled his headset closer to his mouth. As L waited for Near's phone call to end, he glanced only for a moment at the tracer that was meant for Alice. L wasn't sure why, but it seemed she ended up outside of Houston off the main roads, and onto some wasteland. He wasn't sure what had brought her there, but not long ago she was greeted by Matt and Mello. Surprisingly they had not stayed long, leaving her behind. His curiosity had almost got the best of him after he saw the little event unfold on the screen of his tracer. For a moment, he considered taking a break from the case to investigate their little meeting. Matt and Mello were for the time being, considered unstable, and L grew worried over the thought of something happening to Alice because of them. But he let those thoughts go, knowing he was thinking too much over something insignificant. No matter how unstable Matt and Mello were, he could still trust them. He had faith in his successors.

"They are on their way." Near pulled his mic away from his lips.

"Good," L sounded happier. "Standard tradition states we must eat cake to celebrate. Watari?"

Within seconds Watari presented L was a piece of cake. It was vanilla with a coating of cream cheese frosting and cherries on top. Near stared at the cake he was given next.

"But wouldn't this traditional celebration only take effect after we have captured the bad guys?" He looked to L. L returned the stare with his fork already stuck in his mouth and a smear of frosting on the side of his cheek.

"We will eat cake then too. A celebration is a celebration, no matter how big or small the success is."

"I suppose that makes sense,"

"More like delicious. Watari, I say you've outdone yourself with this one."

"Thank you sir." Watari gave L a slight bow in respect.

* * *

The metal pole groaned under the weight of Mello's kicks, crying out as if it were about to break. The sound of a broken pipe could be heard dripping somewhere among the empty underground parking lot. The only light available was the lamp above them, shining only a portion of the never ending tunnel. It was humid and hot, making Matt wish he could go back home to England. He didn't like it there in Texas. Mello was too upset to even want to talk with him, and he was starting to feel the effects as well. Sure he had stayed calm over the entire time they had been speaking with Alice, but at the moment he didn't feel so calm. He wanted to lash out on the pole as well, but he knew nothing would come of that, other then a destruction of privet property written on his record. It was bad enough they had stolen a car.

"DAMNIT! FUCK! PIECE OF SHIT!" Mello continued to curse while kicking at the pole. He had been cursing for a good ten minutes, and Matt was growing tired of it. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HER?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP MELLO!" Matt snapped. Mello immediately stopped kicking the pole and gaped at Matt. Never in all his years working with him has he ever heard him curse so loudly.

"Matt…" Mello started to speak, but Matt stomped over to Mello with his fists clenched tight. He grabbed the front of Mello's shirt and shoved him back against the very pole he had been kicking. Matt pinned him down and got close to his face, his glare no longer hidden behind his goggles.

"You're a god damn idiot, you know that? We had a second chance to makes things right, and your emotions got the better of you. What the hell were you thinking?"

After the initial shock wore away, Mello returned Matt with a glare of his own. He grabbed the fist that was pinning him down, and started to push it away. Matt didn't have the strength to fight back, so he let Mello toss his hand away.

"You heard her, didn't you? She was protecting him! She didn't want to hear a word we had to say. She doesn't care about us!"

"ALICE ISN'T MARIA MELLO!" Matt yelled. His echo continued after him, making it almost sound like he was repeating himself. Mello looked away from Matt, a mix of anger and grief took over his features. Matt's breaths became heavy, as if screaming was taking all of his energy. Seeing the grief pass over Mello, Matt lowered his voice. "Don't you dare say she doesn't care about us." He shook his head. "Stop acting like such a god damn victim and pull yourself together."

"I'm not acting like a victim! And of course Alice's isn't Maria! I never said she was!"

"Then what the hell is your problem?"

Mello stepped closer to Matt and pointed directly at his face. "You know as well as I do that this situation matches the one two years ago. Maria had fallen for the same stupid act, and now look were she's end up!"

"But what proof do we have?" Matt threw up his hands. "What are we basing our theory off of? A hunch?"

"What's wrong with using our guts?" Mello's voice got louder. The echo's returned. "Don't tell me that the lack of evidence isn't suspicious enough. How long have you been trying to research L anyway. It's already been fourteen years Matt! How long is it going to take for you to find out his date of birth or who his parents are!"

"Just stop!" Matt covered his ears, not wanting to hear another word. He didn't want to hear about his one failure that's been plaguing him.

"Need I remind you the similar trouble you encountered when researching that son of a bitch, Beyond Birthday."

Matt shook his head, pressing on his ears to try and drown out the noise. He didn't want to remember any of it. He didn't want to relive those years over again. Especially the ones with Beyond Birthday. He could never forget those eyes. They've always been haunting him, as if Beyond's eyes could see right through him.

"Do you remember what happened to Maria Matt? Do you remember when that BASTERD killed her! All because she thought she fell in love with him!"

Matt quickly turned on his heel and smashed his foot against the door of the mustang, leaving a good size dent behind. He had wanted to hit something for quite some time, and he immediately felt a lot better after doing so.

"Of course I remember! I tried so hard to help her! I couldn't find out anything about him! I tried…I…I…looked over every possible resource, I hacked into Rogers admittance files, and I even searched the guy's room! It was as if he didn't exist!"

"And now you're telling me we should overlook L and Ace?"

Matt finally got himself to calm down. Hitting the car had been enough. He no longer felt the need to argue with Mello, even if still didn't quite agree with him.

"I don't want to lose her Mello." His tone sounded robotic. Mello turned away and ran his hands through his hair. Matt overheard the sigh escape his lips. It sounded rough, as if Mello were holding back some other emotion behind that sigh.

"Shit." He cursed at himself, crossing his arms tightly. Matt stared off into oblivion, trying to make images out of the darkness. He felt numb, as if he drained all of his emotions out at once.

"Why does L have to be so similar to Beyond…" His voice drifted. He wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore. But Mello heard him loud and clear, as if a knife was shoved into his heart.

"I'm not going to lose her." Mello's confidence returned. He turned back around and got Matt's attention away from the darkness. "Let's go back."

* * *

Alice's color finally returned to her face after what seemed like hours. Eric and Zeek had been trying the whole time to make her feel better, and after having a glass of orange juice, it was as if her so called "Chi" was renewed. She felt stronger, ready to take on anymore questions Eric or Zeek had for her. They all sat around the foldout table while Alice finished the rest of her juice. When she was done, she sighed contently.

"Look's like your feeling better little elf." Zeek smiled. For some odd reason, Alice was able to return a smile, matching the one Zeek had. She didn't think she could have ever smile again, but after being taken care of with such compassion, she felt closer. Hell, she was even ready to disclose her big secret, and she never felt better. She blamed some of the good mood on the orange juice, but any sort of compassion after her fight with Mello was enough to make her heart sing. She realized it couldn't be the end of the world if she still had people like Zeek and Eric who cared about her.

"Thank you."

"It's no big deal my sister." He waved it off.

"Do you feel good enough to tell us about your troubles?"

Alice glanced over at Eric for a moment to get a read of what he might be thinking about. He didn't look scared or turned off by her. He genially looked concerned and interested in what she had to say. She just couldn't image why he was so different then everybody else.

"Why are you not disgusted with me?" She just had to know.

"Why would I be disgusted with you?"

"I told you I was psychic…"

"Wooh little elf. Having the gift of site doesn't make you a monster."

"I'm not saying that I'm a monster." Alice's tone hardened. She had never thought of herself as one, and she was never going to put herself in that state of mind. Being told she was a liar was much worse then somebody calling her a monster. "I'm just surprised that you believe me."

"I'm not one to judge darlin'. I was taught to always show respect. Especially towards ladies such as yourself."

Alice bit her lip and started to play with her thumb. "But I guess that doesn't mean you have to believe me then…"

"I never said that." Eric turned his body towards hers. He wanted to make himself loud and clear for her. "I believe in them ghosts. I've got an aunt who lives in Tennessee who can see the dead. Helped me talk to my grandfather and everything."

Alice's jaw went slack. Was she hearing him right? She couldn't believe her luck. Not only was Zeek just as crazy as she was, but Eric had family with her same exact abilities. Out of all the people she could have made friends with, she met the two most honest and kind gentlemen she could ever meet. Alice got so overwhelmed with happiness, that she almost started to cry again. But she stopped herself before she could. She didn't want to ruin the moment with tears.

"Wicked cool. I wish I could talk to my Grandpa. I'm not sure who he is, but it would sweet if I could speak with him." Zeek laughed.

"So you both believe me when I say I can talk to the dead?" Alice had to make sure one last time. Both Eric and Zeek smiled at Alice and nodded their heads. Alice let out a small whimper of a laugh and reached out to them. She got a hold of Zeek from the other side of the table, and pulled Eric toward her who was sitting next to her. She encased them in a hug and started to laugh even more. "Thank you so much!" She felt a tear escape. She sniffed and stopped anymore that threatened to fall.

"Aw, I return the love little elf." Zeek patted her back. Eric responded by placing his head on top of hers and smiling gently.

"Okay," she sighed after pulling away. "Now that we've got that cleared up. I think we should talk about why I'm here." She got serious. It was only a flash behind the beads, but there was no mistaking Doug's silhouette. She hadn't forgotten the reason she found Zeek in the first place, and she wasn't about to give up after all the trouble she had been put through. She was going to protect her new friends, no matter the cost. If Zeek's life was in danger, then she was going to do everything she could to save him. Finding a place to hide was going to be a good start, but she had to explain the situation first if she was going to earn their cooperation.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

******Bebbingtoe**, **Yumeno**, **GodsOfDeathLikeApples**, **MsBlondiePunch**, **xMisaki-Chanx**, **Kasoday**, **Bree Renee**, xGrellSutcliffx, **chabitso.0**, **I Am Pandora**, **Honakaa-Honami**, **XBloodMageRikaX**, **NotAStalker**, **Silver Akuma Kitsune**, **Silver Levi**, and **wolf neko**. (You all are too good for me. I don't deserve such awesome reviewers! To say thank you, I'm going to try my hardest to post the next chapter in one week, besides the usual two. For the next few days I'm going to sit myself in front of my computer and just type! No more being lazy! No more procrastination! No more distractions!...Oh I see something shiny!...WAIT! NO! I will not fall for it! I MUST TYPE!)**  
**

**Azure Tragedy: **Thank you so much for finding those little spelling mistakes! I do appreciate the help, and if you ever see another grammatical error or misspelling, don't hesitate to tell me. I love all the help I can get. It only helps me to improve my writing. =D THANK YOU!**  
**

**AraCookie: **It's so good to hear from you again! Good luck on your thesis! I'm confidant that you're going to do great! And I feel so blessed to be praised with such kind words. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know that my writing has improved. Of course there is always room for improvement, but I'm going to work hard and practice as much as I can. Thank you so much, and take as much time as you need on your studies. Your education is far more important then my silly little story. =)**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **I'm going to guess it's some sort of plant, since plants have lots of babies. Though I'm not sure what plant...why do I get the feeling I should know this...hmmm...**  
**

**Speckles719: **I wish there were more Zeek's in this world too. I'm sure everyone would be more relaxed if there were. Oh, and I'm just as amazed as you are! I can't believe I can make anybody emotional! I never thought I could pull off drama. My forte is humor, so I'm treading into new territory...**  
**

** freaksforever: ***waves back* HI! I missed you! Tennis sounds fun! Though I've tried it once and failed miserably...I was always more of a baseball sort of gal. Anywhossels! Thank you! You are too kind. You have giving me such high praise that I feel I should live up to your compliments. I will continue this story and try for those 1,000 reviews! 9,000 would be EPIC, but I'm going to stay realistic here and set my standers to something I could probably reach. You are AWESOME! xD**  
**

**Darlia Minx: **Aww! You don't have to thank me for replying to you! I LOVE REPLYING TO MY REVIEWERS! I wish I could reply to them all! I bet you could make a great fan-fiction! And I would love to read your work! I completely understand you want to wait. I sure waited a long time before I decided to post this. And I still sometimes think if I should improve myself and rewrite some of it. But hey, what's life without a bit of a risk. This story is merely just for my enjoyment anyway. I love to write, so I'm not going to stop. I'm sure you'll write an Epic story some day, and I'll be here if you ever need me. That's what fellow writers are for anyway! =D

**Crazyinabottle: **You are too kind! Thank you so much! I have considered writing something for Mello, because I love him just as much as L, but I am horrible at writing two stories at once. I really want to finish this story first and then see where I go from there.**  
**


	44. Alice makes a Bold Decision

I DID IT!

I posted this chapter early! Just like I said I would!

Are you proud of me?

I'm so pumped up right now!

I feel like I just drank twelve cups of coffee!

Oh hell...head rush...

Is that a unicorn I see?

...

Maybe it wasn't coffee I drank...

...enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, but I would love to own that unicorn that's flying over me...HOT DAMN, I now just realized that thing has wings! It's a PEGASUS!)_

* * *

**Alice makes a Bold Decision**

It was a first for Alice. Talking about her abilities to another person without getting an odd look in return. L's features were always neutral, so she could never tell what he was really thinking, but Zeek and Eric were a different story. They were soaking up all she had to say, laughing at the parts she laughed at, and frowning at the parts where she said something upsetting. She had never gotten so many positive reactions before. If she would have had the time, she would have loved to tell her life story to them. Talk about all the interesting people she had met or all the people who had called her crazy. Opening up to them felt like a shower of relief. She had been hiding herself for so long, that she had almost forgotten what it was like to be close to someone. L had been the closest one to her until that point, and even then it seemed like there was something blocking her from getting any closer.

She had started from the beginning of course, though she left out where she met Doug. She figured the guy had been through enough already. He didn't need to be humiliated by the fact that he ended up in England without even realizing it. When she had mentioned meeting Doug, Zeek's eyes grew round and large. A gasp escaped his lips.

"You've been talking to my buddy?"

"He came to me for help. He needed to find you."

"Man! Even in the afterlife he's still looking out for me." Zeek smiled.

"Well, he was persistent about finding you." Alice smiled with him. She momentarily glanced behind the boys toward the back room with the beaded doorway. Doug was hiding behind part of the wall, but it was obvious to Alice he was spying on their conversation. He had probably being doing so that whole time, which meant he must of witnessed her fight with Mello. Well at least she wouldn't have to explain herself to Doug since he already knew everything.

"So is he with us now?" Eric asked next, leaning in closer. Alice looked away from Doug and stared at Eric with a blank expression. She could have told them he was standing right behind them, but that ultimately wasn't her decision. She learned early on to never disclose a ghost's presence. Most of the time the dead didn't want to be known they were there. Also, it made the living uncomfortable to be told that there was a ghost among them. So she couldn't tell Eric or Zeek, unless Doug wanted her too. And judging by the way he was hiding in the other room, it didn't seem he was quite ready yet to be found out. So she lied.

"No, I haven't seen him in a while."

"Are you sure little elf? I get the feeling like I'm being watched."

Alice started to sweat. Even though Zeek said a lot of strange things, he seemed to be in tune with some form of a psychic trait. She only hoped he would forget about his odd feeling and move on.

"Yeah, he's not here, but that doesn't matter. He wanted me to find you so I could warn you about the danger you're in."

"I don't like danger dude. It always makes my tummy upset." Zeek rubbed his stomach.

"You're talking about the money Doug stole, right?" Eric glanced down at the zipped up duffel bag down by their feet. They had put it away so they had more room at the table.

Alice nodded her head, but then turned back to Zeek. "Doug really didn't want to get you involved with his crime. He feels awful that he put you in danger."

Once again, Zeek waved it off, keeping up his cool and relaxed image.

"I get it little elf. I know Doug meant well when he took the money. He was always the type of guy who believed in fairness. He wouldn't have stolen the money without having a legitimate excuse."

"I don't think stealing has ever justified fairness…" Eric trailed off.

"Not unless he was stealing what was stolen from him." Zeek replied, smirking over at Eric. Alice found herself agreeing with Zeek. If somebody had taken something of hers, then she would be more justified to take it back. Though when Doug stole back his money, he had taken more then he should have. Which was probably why he had hitman after him.

"What's done is done, and right now we have to consider how Zeek here is going to avoid being killed."

"I would hate to die." Zeek admitted.

"He should just give back the money." Eric answered as if the solution were that simple.

"Okay, that could work…but how would we give it back?"

Eric and Alice looked at Zeek to see if he could provide an answer. Zeek didn't look like he had the answer. He was giving them the same perplexed expression.

"I've never met Doug's dealers. Except for the dude who killed him, and I didn't exactly stick around to exchange pleasantries…"

"Fair enough." Alice gave him that.

"So then we should get rid of the money. Give it to the police." Eric gave another answer.

"And get Zeek here locked up for being involved with one of the biggest drug trafficking cases. I don't think so." Alice shook her head. "We can't go to the police."

Eric gave a frustrated sigh and rubbed his forehead. "Then toss the money in this desert. As long as we don't have it, the bad guys won't come after Zeek."

"They wouldn't know if we ditched the money or not. They are going to find Zeek, because they know he was the last one to have the money. And in the end, if he does or does not have the money after they find him, I don't think they are going to let him live."

"Bummer man," Zeek sighed.

"Then what do you suppose we do?"

Alice pursed her lips together and concentrated on all her options. The biggest question for her was whether or not the bad guys knew where Zeek was. If they could find a place to hide, then all Alice would have to do was wait it out until L solved the case. She was sure it wouldn't take long for L to put them behind bars, so as long as she kept Zeek safe long enough, then she was sure she could save if his life.

"If it's not too hard to talk about, could you tell me where Doug was murdered Zeek?"

Zeek took a moment to look outside. There was a window next to the foldout table, so he could see the rippling waves of heat and the cracked uneven plots of land. There wasn't much else to see other then the occasional bush or dead patches of grass, but there were tire marks from when Mello sped out in the mustang. Alice made sure to not pay attention to those.

"It's all a blur man, it happened so fast," he began. "It wasn't in the RV if that's what you're thinking. We were bunking in a buddies apartment while he was away on vacation. This big black dude came crashing in and got Doug around the throat." He sounded more crestfallen. Alice remembered the vision clearly when she had touched Doug's jacket. She remembered the fear and the terrible cries. She remembered how scared she was, and how she so desperately wanted to breathe. The memory made her shutter, and she had to get Zeek to stop.

"You don't have to say anymore." She held up her hand. Zeek looked thankful for her interruption. "As long as they don't know about your RV, I think you're safe."

"So what are you saying then? We just hide from them?" Eric sounded disappointed.

"That's exactly it. Do you remember when I told you about L working here in Texas?"

The two boys nodded their heads.

"Well, the case he's working on involves those hitman and the drugs, so if we hide and wait, then eventually he's going to catch the bad guys and Zeek will be free to go where he pleases without the threat of being axed off."

"Sounds easy enough." Zeek effortlessly agreed with Alice. Eric still looked to be on the fence about the idea, but he didn't object. It wasn't as if he had any better ideas.

"So it's settled then. We find a place to hide and wait for L to lock up the bad guys."

"Here here!" Zeek punch his fist in the air. Eric rubbed his lower jaw and mumbled something about being too carefree. Alice found Zeek's enthusiasm to be a breath of fresh air.

* * *

"How odd…" L scratched his cheek.

"What's wrong?" Near asked.

"I thought we would have had our second celebration by now. I've already finished my last piece of cake." L looked longingly at his empty plate.

"I agree with you about the time it has been taking to try and locate these two men. Maybe we should hire a new search team and start over?"

L stared down at his computer screen and frowned. His thumb was placed on his bottom lip, and his patients was wearing thin.

"That would be useless now. We have already lost three hours from our timeline."

Near regretfully agreed with L. It didn't seem like they were getting any closer to catching Hammer or Grill, even though they had such high hopes from before.

"I suppose our next option is to interrogate another suspect."

"It's an option that only has about 5.8% chance of working. If I'm not mistaken, Joseph mentioned that his two comrades were secretive, which means the odds of finding their associates are slim to none."

Near started to twist his hair tighter, wrapping it around his finger until the blood made his skin turn pink. He didn't like to lose.

* * *

"It feels so good to be out of that dress!" Alice beamed. Instead of the short mod cosplay she had been sporting that entire morning, she changed to white capris pants and a printed dark blue T-shirt that had "Orange Juice" written across the chest in big bold orange letters. Eric didn't look as thrilled as she was, but he would have rather seen her smile over any silly dress.

"I thought the dress looked nice." Zeek said while rubbing his nose. He had tried to wash off the paint from his face, but he seemed to have missed a few spots. He had also changed out of his cosplay, but for some odd reason he had kept the ears on. Alice had told him about the ears, but he claimed they helped him hear better, as if he were a bat. There was no possible way Alice was going to fight that battle and win, so she just accepted Zeek for the way he was; elf ears and all. At least he had put on a normal pair of jeans and a faded gray short sleeved shirt.

"Yeah, well, you try walking around in those boots all day." Alice rolled her eyes.

"I don't have the legs for those," Zeek chuckled. Eric groaned painfully.

"I really did not want to imagine that." He cringed. Alice laughed out loud, her voice carried down the street they were traveling. They weren't far from Houston, but they were far enough away to be considered secluded. They had ended up in a more rural part of the city. There was a lot more foliage and mini markets. Alice thought it looked a lot like the city Eric was from, only there were a lot more people, and a lot more brand names. She was just glad she was out of the desert. There were too many bad memories left there scattered in the sand. She was in a much safer state of mind as long as she was away from all the drama.

"So what now little elf?"

Alice started to chew on the inside of her cheek. Of course they were going to hide, but the real problem was, she didn't know who she was hiding from. She didn't have names or the faces of these so called killers, so for all she knew, they could step out onto the street in front of her and she wouldn't even realize it. Then there was the tiny problem with L. The last she ever heard from him was before she left with the jacket he gave her to analyze. Who knew what he could have been doing that entire time she was on her journey. She hoped he was in Houston like Mello and Matt. That way he could catch the bad guys sooner. But she missed him as well. She missed hearing his sarcastic voice whenever she did something stupid, or the way he looked when he was concentrating on something. Hell, she was even started to miss his awkward way of sitting and his constant need to eat something sweet. Thinking of L was not helping her homesickness.

The reason she had left in the first place was because she thought she couldn't trust anyone. Mello and Matt had pushed her to her breaking point. She hadn't even considered calling L and finding out the truth. Her stubborn side made her just as irrational as Mello, so of course she ended up fighting alone against a battle she was undoubtedly unprepared for.

She wondered if it was too late to call L. Mello and Matt didn't seem like they were on good terms with the detective anymore, so she was sure they hadn't told him about their fight in the desert. But then what would she say to him? She had broken her promise to stay quiet about their experiments, and even more so, went against his authority yet again. By now that had to count for some sort of exile out of the Wammy house.

"You look like your thinking real hard little elf."

"Just trying to come up with a good place to hide." She lied, masking her depression quickly.

"We got a house on wheels, we should just keep moving." Eric proposed. It wasn't a bad idea. If they kept moving, then surly the bad guys could never catch them.

"My house needs to restock on munchies." Zeek rubbed his hands together.

"Alright! Here's the plan!" Alice got serious, throwing her hands up dramatically. The two boys had to jet to the side to avoid being hit. "You two go buy food. I need to make a phone call. We meet back here in ten minutes!"

"Wait wait! Are you sure you should be by yourself?" Eric sounded flustered.

"You are wasting time worrying over nothing. I will be fine. It's Zeek who's the target here, not me. You should be the one who keeps an eye out for murderers."

Eric's frowned deepened. His puppy dog eyes almost made Alice want to change her plan, but she needed to be alone for the phone call. She painfully ignored his charming attempts to stop her, and gave him a stern expression, showing him that she was not going to change her mind.

"This place looks promising." Zeek pointed to a second hand grocery outlet. Even though they had millions in a tiny duffel bag, it seemed Zeek was frugal. Grabbing hold of Eric's arm, he started to pull him toward the small red brick building. Eric struggled, but it seemed Zeek had a pretty good hold on him.

"Have fun!" Alice waved goodbye. Eric yelled at her to come with them, but it was too late. She was already running the opposite direction, hoping with all her might she would find a payphone. She had to explore around several different corners before she struck gold. It seemed fate was finally on her side after she discovered a payphone right outside of a T-mobile corporation. It seemed fate also like to be ironic. Smiling at her own victory, she took a moment to catch her breath. She wasn't sure why she was about to call him, but after remembering all those times she had been a fool, she just had to know what his thought's were. She needed to know what was wrong with Matt and Mello. She needed to know if Near and Watari were safe. She needed to hear L say that she had done nothing wrong. Gripping the handset tightly in her fist, she empty her hand full of change and started to dial the long list of numbers. Her hand shook under the weight of the phone as she pressed it to her ear.

_Ring….Ring…Ring…Oh hell, don't start crying…_

Alice cleared her throat and listened to the ring about three more times. She started to freak herself out from the wait. L was never slow to answer his phone, so her first thoughts turned into disturbed scenarios of L and Near being stabbed to death or shot in the back of the head. She had to slap herself on the cheek to get her to stop her imagination from running wild.

"Hello?" An old raspy voice answered the phone. Alice gasped for fresh air.

"Watari?" she squeaked, her throat already closing.

"Miss Ace?" He found himself just as stunned as the breathless girl. Alice covered her mouth with her hand and blinked her eyes dry. Just because she hadn't spoken to Watari for a day, didn't mean she should be tearing up. It would be ridiculous to get overemotional over just hearing his voice. Not to mention embarrassing and pathetic. She was supposed to be independent. "Are you alright? Have you been eating well? Did you have a good nights rest? Do you need help? Are you in trouble? Where are you?" Watari bombarded her with questions. Alice couldn't comprehend a signal one. The tone of his voice was the only part Alice could register. She had always liked the way his voice sounded. It was calming and light, like the rich chocolate cakes with vanilla frosting he used to make. When he started to repeat her name, she knew she had to answer him with something.

"I'm okay," she was quiet. She was too afraid to speak any louder. She didn't want Watari to hear the quiver in her throat. Watari sighed heavily, as if he had been holding his breath. Alice could imagine him taking out his handkerchief and wiping his forehead. The thought made her smile.

"I'm going to give the phone to L. I want you to explain to him your reasoning for running away. Do I make myself clear?"

Alice's entire body went still. Her breathing stopped, and her heart felt like a humming birds. She had almost cried listening to Watari, so was she ready to hear L? She licked her lips and tried to wipe the sweat off her hands.

"Yes sir." She was surprisingly able to answer him. A satisfying grunt came next, and then the sound of the phone being moved about told Alice she only had seconds left. She used that time to take long exaggerated breaths. She grabbed the handset with both hands, and stared down at her feet as if she found her shoes the most interesting thing to look at.

"Ace, are you alright?" L's deep tenor overtook her senses. This had been the man she had been fighting for, and now she was talking with him over the phone. An overwhelming sense of dread and joy made her legs feel like jelly. She should have been apologizing to him first, but explaining herself seemed more important.

"I'm perfectly healthy," she smiled.

"I'm not satisfied with that answer until I can see you for myself. I'm sending Watari out to get you."

"No!" Her smile dropped. "I still have unfinished business. I only called you so I could find out some answers."

"Explain to me first why you decided to run away with this Eric fellow." Alice heard the sharpness in his voice. He was mad of course, and he had every right to be. She didn't even bother to find out how he knew about Eric.

"Do you remember the jacket you gave me to analyze?"

"I'm guessing whatever you got from that article of clothing must have caused you to flee. For that, I am truly sorry. I should have been with you if you were scared."

"It's not that L."

"The please explain properly," he pushed on, needing to know every detail. Alice had to take a moment for herself. She needed to organize her thoughts and pray to whatever deity she could think of. She had already told Mello and Matt what she could do, so revealing to L about her new friend Doug was inevitable.

"I haven't been completely honest with you…" She gripped the handset tighter. She paused to hear what L would say, but she was received with nothing but silence. So she continued on. "The jacket you gave me belonged to a man named Douglas Brown, and he was strangled to death by that guy Joseph. The reason I left was because I promised Douglas I would help him find his friend."

"…" There was still no reply from L. She wondered if maybe the payphones connection had been faulty.

"L?"

"When did you make this promise to Douglas?" L finally spoke. For some odd reason, Alice felt relieved. She thought he had hung up on her.

"The night before we left for America."

The silence on the other end meant L was thinking critically about her story. She hadn't said Doug was a ghost, but it was only a matter of time until L put the pieces together. The first clue was the fact that she spoke to Doug in England, when in fact he never left America when he was alive. The second clue was the interaction between her and somebody who was suppose to be deceased. She wasn't sure when Doug was murdered, but it couldn't have been long ago.

"You couldn't have possibly had contact with Doug without Watari or Roger's knowledge." He sounded as if he were talking to himself. Alice tried yet again to bring moister to her lips. Her tongue felt dry, like the sand.

"The day I went out with Mello to pay for his chocolate, I ran into Doug in some forest."

The second stretch of silence seemed to last longer this time. Alice wanted L to say something to her, but she had to be patient. Her waiting paid off soon enough.

"When you spoke to Mr. Brown, was he alive?"

There was the question she had been waiting for. L already knew the answer, but he needed to hear it from her. So, without delay, she gave him the truth.

"He was not alive."

Alice overheard some rustling in the background. She wondered what L was up too. It wasn't often L would be turning his attention away from her so quickly. Especially after what she had just told him.

"If what you are saying is true, then why did you not come to me sooner?" L's voice had a hint of announce to it. Alice could feel the sweat on her hands, making the handset harder to grip.

"I…I…didn't think…" Her words were scattered. She had never felt ready to disclose to L about seeing an actual spirit. For her, it was the moment her friends and family would look down on her. It was the point of no return. And she liked L too much to see him leave. So she had kept her mouth shut as long as she could.

"You said Mr. Brown came to you for help. Who was this friend of his that he so desperately needed to find?" L kept the conversation business like. Alice really wondered if L was taking her seriously. But of course, L was always serious when it came to his job. What he really sounded like was a detective. He was merely questioning her to later use as some form of evidence. Alice didn't like how formal he was. She wanted him to be just as chocked up as she was, but she had to give him the benefit of the doubt. He didn't know about her fight with Mello and Matt, and she had never seen L emotional, other then maybe angry. Maybe he had some disability that prevented him from feeling strong emotions…

"His name is Tyler Alchi, but he goes by the name Zeek."

Either L was ignoring her shaky voice, or he didn't notice it all. He merely just continued with the questions.

"Is that why you had run away then? To find this Mr. Alchi?"

"Yes,"

"And were you successful?"

"Yes," she was blunt again. Alice heard some typing in the background, but it didn't last for long. L could type at speeds Alice couldn't even comprehend.

"Your mission was to find this Mr. Alchi for Mr. Brown, and you were successful. So tell me then why you can not come back."

Alice looked down the street to see if anybody was watching her. Luckily Eric or Zeek hadn't come looking for her yet. Zeek must have been taking his time choosing his so called 'munchies'.

"This is where the story gets complicated…"

"I'm quite sure we've past that line already."

Alice had to give him that.

"There are two reasons I can't come back." She paused, hoping to give her some time to breathe. She would start with the easy one first, that way she could warn L of the danger Zeek was in without sounding like a blubbering idiot. "Zeek is in trouble, and I have to protect him."

"What kind of trouble?"

"The kind where he could end up getting killed."

Alice wasn't sure what L was thinking about, but she could just picture him biting his thumb. He always had the habit after hearing unpleasant news.

"And by your logic, you think you can save him?" His voice sounded annoyed once more. It was getting worse even. If he was getting upset over this, then she really didn't want to explain her next reasoning.

"I can." She tried to sound confidant. L didn't fall for it.

"I don't want you out there with this man if he is being targeted. If you really want to save his life, bring him to us."

Alice had never said anything about being a target. She wondered how much L had already known. Could it be he knew about the money Doug had stolen? Did he know there were hitmen after Zeek's life? Then her thoughts moved to even more convoluted ideas. What if L knew about her meeting with Doug? What if he planned for her to run away after she touched the jacket? He had to have known it's was Douglas's jacket. It was the very one he was murdered in, and she had already been through enough experiments to show how sensitive she was to traumatic events. Did he plan all of this? Were Mello and Matt right about L wanting her dead? If L had known about the killers, then surly getting her to find Zeek would be an easy way to die. All the blood would be on the killer's hands, leaving L to be completely innocent.

Alice started to hyperventilate.

"Ace? What's wrong?" L's voice became frantic.

There was no possible way that could be true, right? L would never hurt her! L would never…

"Ace! Breath!"

Alice's hands started to violently shake. She tried to hold the phone steady before she spoke.

"I told Mello and Matt about our experiments." She started to whimper. She attempted to push some of her hair out of her face. But her hand wouldn't cooperate. Her whole body felt like it was going to collapse.

"Try to calm down Ace. Tell me what happened."

Alice got frustrated by how relaxed he sounded. She gritted her teeth together and felt the tears rim her eyes. Her vision blurred in seconds. _Why was he so fucking calm?_

"They found me and tried to get me to go with them. They said they wanted to protect me from _you_!" she found herself yelling. There was no possible way for her to calm down by that point. Of course she could have been overreacting, but by this point she figured she had every right to be overwhelmed. She had been forced by a ghost to find his friend, leaded to a desert and warned of the impending doom that falls upon Zeek, yelled at by Mello who betrayed her trust and called her names, and now lost and brokenhearted with nobody to trust, even though she had called L specifically to find out answers. It was just one shitty day.

"Protect you from me?" L sounded bewildered. It could have been an act for all Alice knew, but she listened to him anyway. "What do you mean by that?"

Alice had to take a deep long breath before she could answer him. "They said you were going to kill me!" A tear ran down her cheek. She felt lucky that nobody was around to see it. She really needed to stop crying, it was getting old.

"Kill you…?" L's voice drifted off. "Now I need you to listen to me carefully. I want you to gather your two friends and drive out to the west side of the city. You will see an abandon property on 21st street, located between Jackson and 22nd. It's only a about a mile from your location. I will have a car ready for you and your friends."

Alice shook her head, even though she knew L could not see her. Or could he? He knew where she was, so for all she knew, he could have camera's on her. Her paranoia was reaching level's she was uncomfortable with. If only her trust wasn't shattered to a million pieces. Hell, if L would have just said he wasn't going to kill her, then maybe she would have calmed down. But the fact that he didn't even deny her accusation just made her want to scream.

"What the hell is going on L? Why are Matt and Mello acting this way?" She couldn't help the sobs. She wanted her family back together. She wanted Mello and Matt to believe her. She wanted L to tell her he wasn't going to hurt or leave her. She needed some form of comfort!

"I will explain everything once you are safe off the streets. Please Ace, do as I say."

"Mello called me a nut!" Alice covered her mouth. The tears started to come faster. "They didn't believe me L. They hate me now! They don't want anything to do with me!"

"Ace, you have every right to be upset. Come back to me, and I can help you."

Alice hated the way he was acting so professional. As if her emotions were bothering him, and he had better things to do then talk with her on the phone. At least, that's what it sounded like to her. That's probably why L didn't want her helping with the case. She just got in the way. Maybe Mello and Matt were right. She must have been a nuisance, so L sent her away.

_Oh god! What then hell was she thinking?_

"I'm not coming back," she whispered.

"Ace,"

"Until you finish your stupid job, I'm going to protect my friend Zeek! I'm not going to leave him behind!"

"Don't do this Ace. You don't know what you're up against. These men are dangerous."

"It's the only thing that feels right to me L. I'm sorry." She chocked, her breath feeling tangled inside her throat.

"Ace wait!"

"Goodbye,"

* * *

L talked into the silent phone for what seemed like an hour, hoping that if he called her name enough, she would magically reappear on the other end. But she had hung up on him, crying of all things, and he could do nothing to help her. He felt so useless when it came to comfort. What was he suppose to say to her when she was that upset? Woman tended to only hear what they wanted to hear when they were at a certain level on their emotional scale, and L believed Alice was beyond the line of rational thinking. And what made it worse was the fact the Mello and Matt have been telling her ridiculous accusations about him. He knew he should have stopped them from running off. He hadn't realized how much Maria's death had affected the boys, and now it seemed they were making things worse for Alice. L rubbed his forehead and tried to organize his thoughts. Not only did he have to find those two killers, but he now had Alice and his two successors to worry about. Catching the killers before they could hurt Alice was defiantly important, but then what about Matt and Mello? They could easily kidnap Alice and leave no trace evidence to follow. They were skilled enough to take Alice from him and hide her away to never be found. Would Alice be willing to go with them? After their little conversation, he'd say Alice would probably go looking for them first. He had only made her that much more upset, so it wouldn't surprise him if she never wanted to see him again. The thought only made L more depressed. Was he really going to lose his first love?

"Sounds like we have a dilemma on our hands." Near snapped him out of his monologue. L had let him listen in on his conversation with Alice, which meant he was now a part of the secret he had been sharing with Alice for over a month. L wasn't surprised to see Near unaffected by the news. If anything, Near had probably already known. He was always good at societal observation.

"I know this may seem selfish of me, but I would like to locate the two killers on my own from now on."

"Oh?" Near became intrigued.

"I'm assigning you the job and finding Matt and Mello. It seems we have a new interrogation to look forward too."

"Yes sir," Near smirked. The cold snake-like hiss didn't go unnoticed by Near. L was furious.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING

**Bree Renee, Ironicsheep, Honakaa-Honami, chabitso.0, HybridRebellion, I Am Pandora, NotAStalker, Vital-Regions-RPrussian-Territory, torixx3, XBloodMageRikaX, Crazyinabottle, Yumeno, xGrellSutcliffx, Serendipital, hello-totoro-ninja, and ****tootsiepop101.** (You have all certainly made my week incredibly easy to write. I have never been so excited to post before, and it's all because I love hearing from all of you. Hell, even if I find out somebody favorites or alerts my story, it makes me want to dance and jump around like a fool. So for that, I'm incredibly grateful to have you all supporting me.)

** Sakura Ichigo Morihiko:** ...*Slaps my face repetitively until red in the cheeks* I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! I LOVE WATERMELON! IT'S MY CRACK! ...*coughs*...I'm sorry, that was embarrassing...okay, let's see if I can redeem myself. This one in particular is incredibly disturbing...so I'm going to make myself feel better and assume it's not something alive, but rather an object of some sort. And when you mention beaten, I think of some sort of man handling scenario, but not in that disturbing kind of way. I mean it's meant for some sort of factory or warehouse where they create things. And becoming blood thirsty makes me think of a weapon, so could it be an axe or something? By the way, I love these riddle too!**  
**

**Angel Ayame: **I'm so happy you think I'm keeping them all in character! The plot is getting all crazy like, so you have every right to question it. Matt should have been in the anime more, I so agree!**  
**

**freaksforever: **Such a clever theory, but I can't give you an answer. You're just going to have to read to find out what all the fuss is about. =D**  
**

**Bebbingtoe: **HA! That's awesome! What did your teacher say about your test? Also, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! Hugging Mello at all is going to be difficult enough, but I think I can do it. Just wait right there...*Wonders off*...*Time ticks away*...*Tick Tock*...*Tick Tock*...*Runs back in a panic mess* OH HELL! *Breaths heavily* I GOT IT! *hands over chocolate*, I should warn you though. After hearing the name Echo, he's determined to find this person and kill them...so...I would be careful...other then that, enjoy the sweet treat. =)**  
**

**nadzuke eno mono: **Are you telling me that you're reading this story even though you've never even seen Death Note? I AM SO FREAKEN FLATTERED RIGHT NOW! You're reading it for the story itself, and not because of Death Note. I think I'm going to cry. I'm just so happy to have someone like you reading it.**  
**

**Karen: **AWWW! Thank you for reading it! I'm so honored you took the three days to read my story all the way through!


	45. Terror Strikes and Burnt Brownies

*Takes A Bow*

Welcome my precious readers.

If you require my services, then I will be your humble servant.

A simple message or review will suffice.

Please do enjoy the chapter.

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**Terror Strikes and Burnt Brownies**

It took all of Alice's energy not to collapse right then and there in front of that payphone. The soreness she felt reached not only in her heart, but through her muscles as well. She felt weak, and horribly confused. Her brain felt scrambled. As if someone had just tried to explain to her the meaning of life. She wasn't sure what to believe or where to go. She felt as if she were walking into a maze, just like the one she had almost entered when she dreaming about Alice and Wonderland. But L had saved her from all that trouble in the dream. So why couldn't he have done that again? Why did he have to be so damn secretive? What did he have to hide from her?

Thinking of L only made her headache worse. She had to stop and rationalize her thoughts before they spun out of control again. She was done being emotional. No more crying or feeling betrayed. She had other obligations first that far outweighed her petty problems. A friend of hers was in trouble, and she was damn sure going to protect him no matter what. She didn't know why she cared so much about him, even though they had just met, but she felt close to him, as if they had been friends all along. Eric was growing on her too, especially now that her secret was out in the open and he didn't even bat an eyelash. She hadn't known them for very long, but she felt a closeness to them that she hadn't felt in long time. She wondered if maybe she could have felt that way about the Wammy house children too. She did consider them her family, but she had hid her ability away, just like she did with her blood family.

So was that fake too?

Shaking her head, she decided to forget about the past for the moment, and focus on the dangerous problem. There were who knows how many killers on the loose, and Alice had to make sure none of them got to Zeek. Puffing out her chest, she sucked up her defeated pride, and walked back toward the store Eric and Zeek had gone into. They had to have been done by now, and she wouldn't have put it against Eric to start a search party for her. He worried too much.

"There you are!"

_Speak of the worrisome devil._

"I wasn't gone that long," Alice rolled her eyes. She hoped they weren't red and puffy. The last thing she needed was for Eric to worry even more. He almost reminded her of L. If anything, Eric worried just as much as L did about her.

_Stop thinking about him!_

"You okay little elf?"

"I'm fine. Just a little tired is all," she made up an excuse, though it wouldn't be long before it became the truth.

"Well let's head back to the RV so you can rest." Eric pushed her along. Zeek followed behind with plastic bags full of snacks and a smile on his face.

* * *

"Shit," Mello cursed, glaring off into the never ending sand pit in front of him. He was sitting behind the wheel of the mustang, tapping his foot on the gas, anxious to move on. Matt had told him to wait, so he had to force back any pressure off the pedal, making sure not to disturb the geek tech next to him. Apparently the signal on Alice tracer was blocked, so Matt had to step in and try to fix the little problem. Meanwhile, Mello made the decision to race back to the desert and see if she was still there. His temper only got worse when he discovered the barren land to be, well…barren.

"Will you hurry up?" His impatient flared with the hot sun.

"Are you forgetting who we are up against? Give me a minute." Matt grumbled, furiously typing away on his PSP. Mello could tell when Matt was struggling, and it didn't look like he was getting the results he wanted. His brows were scrunched tight together and his lips were forming a straight line. Mello knew it was only a matter of time before Matt would start to curse, and that was the sign of Matt's defeat.

Mello wasn't worried though. Alice couldn't have traveled far. The tire marks in the sand proved what direction they had gone, so as long as they followed the bread crumbs, he would surly find the little run away.

"Screw it," Matt dropped his PSP onto his lap. Mello smirked and shifted the mustang into gear. The engine roared as his foot pressed on the gas pedal.

"Looks like we're going to have to revert to our instincts."

"Please just try not to damage the car anymore…"

"I wasn't the one who put the fucking dent in the door!"

* * *

"So how do you pay for gas?" Alice asked Zeek. Zeek was concentrating on the road in front of him, making sure to retain a legal speed limit. The question seemed to make him smile even more (if that was even possible).

"I have a bake sale."

Eric clicked his tongue and watched the scenery out the window. It didn't take a genius to know what Zeek meant by a bake sale. But somehow, Alice didn't seem to catch the implication.

"I didn't know you could bake?"

"I'm an awesome baker. I know a special recipe for chocolate fudge brownies."

"Get out of here!"

"It's true. Do you want me to show you how to make them?"

"Could you?" Alice brightened up. Eric had to step in at that point. He couldn't let Alice innocence's of baked goods be ruined.

"I think it would be best if you didn't show her. In fact, while we are waiting for this detective guy to catch the bad guys, you should just keep your little business a secret."

"Eric! That's not very nice!" She gapped at the blonde, blue eyed cowboy.

"Ace…," he sighed.

"It's ok little elf."

"No it's not! Casanova here has no right to tell you to stop your business!"

"Casanova?" Zeek tested out the name. Eric's face drained of color.

"Please don't…"

"That's it man! That's his name!" Zeek sounded as if he had a revelation. Alice's anger immediately dissipated. Happiness enveloped her heart like a cocoon to a caterpillar. Eric looked defeated. His head slumped on the glass and his eyes closed in pain. The way Zeek said his nickname made it sound dirty. He was okay with Alice calling him Casanova, but now that Zeek was in on the game, it wasn't pleasing anymore.

"This ain't right," He grumbled into the glass.

"Ah, no hard feelings Casanova. It's not a bad name to have. Makes you sound manly." Zeek snickered.

"Yeah, at least you're not referred to as a tall pointy eared forest dweller who wears nothing but skimpy clothes." Alice tried to cheer up Eric.

"No man, it's the warrior women who wear the skimpy stuff." Zeek corrected her.

"Oh, forgive me," She smirked.

"I thought you were tired." Eric tried to change the topic. Alice wouldn't have it.

"Seems I've got more energy to spare Casanova. So how about we make those brownies!"

"Here here!" Zeek cheered with her. Alice ignored the grumbling from Eric. It seemed he still felt they were being a bit too careless.

* * *

Watari walked into the room, expecting to find L sitting in front of his laptop and stuffing his mouth full of chocolate candies. But to his surprise, there was only Near sitting on the floor, playing with some Lego's. The room looked as if there had been nobody living in it. The computers and wires were gone. The sounds of the clicks and fans were all but a thing of the past. Watari had to pause and rethink what had happened in the past ten minutes. L had told Near to find Matt and Mello while he would focus on the two hitmen, Hammer and Grill.

So then why would Near be by himself playing with Lego's?

"Near?"

Near looked up at Watari, setting his chin down on his one knee that was pitched up. He twisted his hair with his finger, letting the small fibers slide across his pale skin. It was then Watari noticed the headset and mic. He had almost missed the device mangled within Nears messy head of white locks.

"Please report back to me soon," Near spoke into the mic. He wanted to end the conversation before he talked with Watari. It was rude to make someone wait, especially if that somebody was your guardian. "Yes Watari?"

"Did L tell you where he was going?"

"He informed me to wait here for you. He is going to make an announcement soon."

Watari was a bit taken aback by the information. L wasn't usually the one to do things on his own. If anybody was ever included in his plans, it was Watari. But it seemed L was determined to fix whatever had broke. Even if that meant Watari was to be excluded. The thought made him feel a little disappointed, but he knew L would eventually have to work without him. He sure wasn't going to live forever.

"Announcement?" He wondered. It didn't take long for his question to be answered, because the next thing Watari knew, he was hearing L over an intercom system, wired into the room. How that was even possible was beyond him. But then again, L liked to make himself feel like a magician, and having his voice come through an unknown speaker sure did the trick.

"Pardon my sudden disappearance, but I needed a moment of isolation to clear my thoughts."

"Are you alright L?" Watari spoke to him anyway, even though he was speaking to walls. If L put in speakers, then Watari had no doubt in his mind that there were microphones as well so he could hear them.

"I'm fine now, thank you Watari. Sorry if I made you worry."

"Nonsense," Watari smiled, relieved none the less.

"I have a favor to ask of you Watari."

"Anything sir,"

"I need you to do more research on this so called Zeek fellow. I've already got all the standard information, and I must admit I'm concerned for Ace's safety around him."

It wasn't hard for Watari to hear the jealousy in his voice. Watari was already aware of all the stander information on Zeek. He had been to jail on charges of possession of marijuana. As concerning as it was that Zeek had been to prison, Watari didn't think of him as much of a threat. The guy got out of jail for good behavior. Apparently Zeek had been able to break up a prison fight and convince them all to do some sort stress relief exercise that involved some form of yoga or tai-chi. Whatever the case was, Watari couldn't imagine such a guy hurting Alice. But it was an order form L he could not ignore. So bowing to nobody in particular, he accepted L's request.

"Right away sir,"

"Splendid. Oh, and Near,"

"Yes L?" Near looked to the floor at his feet. He didn't like not being able to see a face when he talked. Near work under much better conditions if he could see the persons face. Getting an emotion from just the voice wasn't easy. It reminded him of when L would speak with the Wammy children over the computer about his work as a detective. Sure he got to learn some important lessons, but getting to know the great detective was all but a waste of time. So most of the time Near would sit in the back and try to distract himself. It wasn't worth learning if he wasn't ever going to meet him face to face.

"I trust you are close on their trail?"

"I've managed to make their chase slower, but they still are a step ahead of me."

"Hm, how troublesome. Have you tired eating a piece of the coffee cake yet?"

"Pardon?"

"Think of it like taking a vitamin. It will help boost your concentration. I'm sure of it."

"No offense, but that only applies to you detective." Near sounded playful. Watari almost found himself with his mouth opened. It was an odd site to see Near joking with L. They were both strictly professional. Watari wondered if Near even knew what joking around meant. And what astounded Watari even more was the laugh that came from L next. He only laughed once, and it sounded closer to a grunt then a chuckle, but Watari knew a laugh when he heard one. Oh, what a strange case this was turning out to be…

* * *

"Now the secret ingredient is with the cinnamon. Nobody ever thinks to add cinnamon to brownies." Zeek pointed to the spice on the counter. Alice was looking over his shoulder, observing every technique he showed her with a critical eye. She needed to master this recipe. In the back of her mind she thought of giving a brownie to L, but she quickly stopped herself before she went down that road. The last thing she wanted to think about was him. The wound was still fresh, and she couldn't let it reopen.

"I can't believe we stopped for this." Eric rubbed the back of his neck. He was sitting on the couch, looking annoyed over how happy Zeek was making Alice. Especially over the fact that he was making brownies. And he really didn't believe it was cinnamon that was the special ingredient.

"You're just jealous of Zeek's amazing brownies." Alice snickered. Eric made a noise between a snort and cough.

"No I'm not! Why would I be jealous of some pot brownies?"

"Pot brownies?" Alice gave him an odd look. Her look then turned into utter horror. She hadn't even thought of such a scenario! But she _was_ baking with Zeek. How else would he even get enough money for gas and other luxuries? She turned to Zeek with her shocked expression. Her voice went an octave higher when she spoke. "Is it true? Are we making pot brownies?"

Just as always, Zeek didn't even look fazed. It was as if the guy didn't even know any other emotions. Yet another reminder of L she didn't want to remember; A guy with only one emotion. Even though Zeek's emotion was completely opposite of L's.

"Wooh little elf, Chill. We aren't making those kinds of brownies."

"Oh thank god," Alice put her hand to her chest.

"I only make those for my special customers."

Alice's hand gripped her shirt.

"So you do make those kinds of things…" Her voice trailed off. Who was she to judge anyway? It wasn't as if she hadn't done anything illegal in her life. Hell, she blew up a ship with a canon! She was pretty sure that crime outranked Zeek's brownies by tenfold.

"Please tell me you don't have any marijuana on you right now. You've already been incarcerated for possession once. If you get caught again, the feds aren't going to be so nice a second time." Eric started to rub the temples next to his eyes.

"Wooh! Are you psychic too? How do you know I've been to jail?" Zeek sounded more excited then he needed to be. Alice wondered how he could build up so much energy when he always looked so mellow.

_Uhg…Mello…_

"I had a friend of mine do a background check on you to help Ace here."

Alice stepped in to help explain.

"Doug wasn't exactly helpful when it came to trying to find you, so I had to use other methods."

"That sounds like my buddy. He was never good with directions." Zeek continued to stir the batter. Alice couldn't agree more. Speaking of the dead man, Alice wondered where he ran off too. The last time she saw him was when she was explaining to Zeek and Eric about her little journey. He couldn't have moved on already without saying goodbye first, right? Zeek was technically still in danger, so he couldn't have crossed over yet. He could have been lost…That wouldn't have been surprising.

"This smells amazing!" Alice put her nose over the bowl.

"Doesn't it?" Zeek held the bowl out to her. "Have a taste."

Alice didn't waste a second. She used her finger to grab a drop off the wooden spoon. When she tasted the chocolate batter, her taste buds shivered with excitement. It was just as amazing as it smelled. It was creamy and rich. It was the second best chocolate she's had in her life. Of course, nothing compared to Watari's baked goods.

_Oh hell…Watari…_

Why did she keep thinking about them?

"So how is it?" Zeek helped her from the pit of despair.

"I love it!" She squealed. In the background, she could hear Eric grumble some more. By now, she learned how to tune him out. He needed to learn how to let loose. He was such a stick in the mud.

"Next step is to pop these babies in the oven!" Zeek started to pour the batter into a pan. "Is it set to the right temperature?"

"Yes sir!" Alice saluted. Zeek saluted in returned and praised her for her work.

"Very excellent oven skills!"

"Shouldn't we be hiding somewhere?" Eric finally decided to bring up the elephant in the room. Alice had been trying so hard to forget about the danger. She wanted to at least have a fun with her new friends while they were trapped. Otherwise the stress would overwhelm her. And she couldn't image what Zeek would be like under stress. It would be like seeing a puppy being kicked. It would be cruel and unbearable to witness. But she couldn't patronize Eric for being cautious. He was only looking out for their safety, like a good friend should.

"It's not like we're parading outside with signs that say 'Here's your money bad guys! Come kill me now!' I think we choose a great place to hide." Alice shrugged her shoulders. Eric stood up from the couch and pulled the curtains away from the kitchen window with gusto. He jabbed his finger toward the outside to prove his point.

"We're parked outside of an abandoned theme park! We're the only RV here! We're like sitting ducks out here!"

"Chill Casanova," Zeek held up his hands. This place is safe. I've been here many times before."

"How is that suppose to make me feel better? What if the bad guys know about this place? Since you claim you've been here before, then wouldn't this place be on their little list of places to find you?"

"Huh…" He scratched his chin. "I never thought about it like that before…"

"That's ridiculous. We already determined that the bad guys don't know about Zeek's RV. So they couldn't possibly know he comes to this theme park." Alice tried to be the voice of reason. Eric wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Do you really think they don't know about this RV?"

Alice would have answered him with confidence, but who was she kidding? She didn't really know who the bad guys were or what they knew. They could have been running away from a killer polar bear for all she knew. This was why she tried to distract herself with brownies. She was tired of all the drama. She just wanted one night where she didn't have think about the people who hurt her, or the people who might get hurt.

Noticing her silence, Eric got the answer he was waiting for her.

"I think we should keep moving. We could even go to a different state if we have too."

"I don't mind a little traveling." Zeek was up for it. Alice didn't agree to the idea so easily.

"We don't need to leave the state," she sighed. "I say we just find a more public place and hide out in the crowds."

For a moment Eric looked like he was going to disagree, but he didn't like arguing with Alice. So he relaxed into the booth around the table and smiled.

"I'll compromise with that."

"Alright!" Zeek's excitement returned. "After the brownies are done, we get to go on another road trip!"

Zeek was the kind of person to get excited over everything. She could have told him she found a jar of pickles in his fridge and he would probably give her a high five. Alice found that aspect of him to be charming. It wasn't often she got to meet somebody so optimistic. And Eric was the perfect balance for him. There had to be some form of rationality within their little group. And Alice was done being rational. She couldn't have picked better friends to travel with.

After Zeek put the brownies in the oven, he maneuvered his way onto the seat opposite of Eric.

"They do smell good," Eric had to admit. His mood ultimately lifted after having the talk anyway.

"I'll give you the recipe too." Zeek smiled from ear to ear. Eric was about thank Zeek when the sound of a loud engine caught his attention. It reminded Alice of the one Matt and Mello were driving, which brought goosebumps to her skin. The blood drained so fast from her face, that she almost felt like she was going to pass out. Why would they have returned? She thought Mello and Matt hated her?

"Did you hear that?" Eric sat up to look out the window. Zeek got up as well to see. The two boys pulled the curtains further apart so they could get a better look at the parking lot. Alice didn't want to see the mustang. She didn't want to see Mello or Matt. She wanted them to leave her alone and let her protect her new friends. They hated her anyway, so what else could they have possibly wanted from her? Covering her face with her hands, she closed her eyes and wished with all her might that it was just a passing car, lost among the bustling state. She wanted to hear it turn around and get back on the highway. But to her disappointment, the engine was turned off and some car doors were slammed.

"Who are they?" Eric sounded worried. Alice peeked from behind her hands. Eric would have remembered what Mello and Matt looked like. So then who was he talking about?

"That guy doesn't look friendly." Zeek copied Eric's alarm. That's when Alice knew there was big trouble. If Zeek was worried, then hell was surly freezing over. She rushed to the window by climbing the table. She didn't have time to push Eric or Zeek out of the way. The table was sturdy enough to hold her anyway. She was then witnessing two very different looking men approach the RV. One was tall and thin like a green bean. His hair was greased back and black as tar. His nose was quite large while his eyes looked thin. He wore a tight black shirt and matching trousers. He almost looked like he just came from the movie _grease_. She could just image him dancing and singing inside of the abandoned theme park. The other guy however didn't look like he was the dancing type. He looked more like one of the bouncers at the dance clubs. His chest was so muscular; she wondered how he even fit in his shirt. He was bald of course. She never understood why a guy with so much muscle always had to be bald. Maybe it was a _Vin Diesel_ thing…

"Do you think they want to buy some of my brownies?" Zeek took a step back from the window. Alice's palms started to sweat. Her dry throat returned with a vengeance.

"I don't think they want your brownies…"

"ACE, ZEEK! Go to the back and hide!" Eric jumped away from the window.

"Wait Eric!" Alice argued after Eric started to push her to the back.

"There's no time! I'll give these guys the money! I just don't want them to see either of you!"

Alice was almost persuaded by the idea. If they were to give them the money, then maybe they wouldn't kill anyone. As long as they got what they wanted, then maybe they would let them go. But her hopes were dashed away when she looked under the table. The duffle bag that had all the money in it was gone. As if it had never even existed.

"ERIC THE MONEY!" Alice gasped.

"What about it?" Eric looked under the table. His jaw dropped to the floor. "WHERE'S THE MONEY?"

Zeek scratched his cheek and stared at the spot where the money used to be. He looked to be in serious thought. Maybe Zeek had moved the money somewhere else. Maybe he was just remembering where he had put it. She only wished he would remember faster before the two thugs came knocking on the door.

"Where did the money go?" Zeek cocked his head to the side. Alice wanted to knock him over the head with a rolling pin.

"I was hoping you knew!" She settled for slapping him on the chest.

"Shitshitshit!" Eric started to curse.

"The money couldn't have just walked away! Think guys! Where was the last place we left it?" But Alice already knew the answer to that question. They hadn't moved the money since they put it under the table. Which meant they were either robbed, or the bag really did grow legs, and walk out the door.

"Well this isn't good." Zeek frowned. Alice was having a panic attack. Not only was Zeek calm, but it was just an even bigger reminder of L that Alice didn't want to see. Was it her? Did she have this quality about her that screamed 'guys with one emotion, come be my friend?' If she did, then she was really going to have to fix that. Otherwise she was going to be collecting them like trading cards. The last thing she ever wanted to meet was a guy who only had the emotion of anger.

_Ah fuck! That was Mello! _

She was screwed.

"Ok new plan! You both find a way out through the back room. That way Zeek can get to the driver's seat and get us out of here. I'll hold them back as long as I can."

"Are you insane Eric? Those guys are going to kill you!" Alice shook her head no.

"I'm not going to let them hurt you Ace!" Eric puffed out his chest. Alice couldn't care less about her safety.

"You are not going to fight them on your own!"

The door rattled under the thunderous boom of the thugs knocks. It seemed they were too late to make anymore decisions. Alice's heart felt like it was going to jump out her chest.

"Open up! We've come to collect!" A nasally voice came from behind the door. The voice made Alice's skin crawl. She imaged it was the skinny one talking.

"We don't have your money!" Zeek shouted back.

"ZEEK!" Alice slapped him in the chest again.

"What was that you punk?" the thug sneered.

"I said…!" Zeek started to shout again, but Alice covered his mouth with her hand.

"You idiot, stop talking!" She hissed in his face. That shut him up. Eric grabbed a wine bottle and walked around the door to the other side so he was leaning against the wall. It seemed he had formed another plan in his head, and he was going to take action. Alice's knees were shaking like a chihuahua's. She wanted to be just as brave as Eric. Looking around her for a weapon, she opened up a cupboard and reached inside. To her luck, she pulled out a frying pan. And it was heavy. Perfect.

"You don't open this door, were coming in after you!" The thug shouted. Alice then noticed he had a bit of an accent. It wasn't southern at all. It sounded more like he came from the east of the United States. New York maybe?

"Zeek, go hide." Alice ordered in a whisper.

"No way little elf. We elves have got to stick together." He grabbed a large flashlight from a drawer. For a moment, Alice felt the stronghold of their friendship strengthen. It was comforting to know they would risk their life for her. But at the same time, she knew they were all being idiots. How could possibly win against two professional hitmen? The last hitman Alice was up against was drunk, so she hadn't been scared then. But this time was different. They were clearly not drunk, and they looked determined to get what they wanted.

"That's it! Hammer, kick the door down!"

Alice had never seen a door bend inward so much and not snap. The kick from the muscle man made the door bow, but it held strong. Alice was impressed. The second kick however, caused the door to rip off its hinges. Alice screamed when the door crashed onto the couch. The skinny guy walked in first, noticing Alice and Zeek by the kitchen counter. When he smiled, Alice wanted to puke. It was twisted, just like the thoughts running through his head.

"Why hello pretty lady,"

Eric shattered the wine bottle over the skinny thugs head. The thug dropped to his knees and groaned in pain, his hand pressing against the wound on his head. His eyes looked like they were swirling in circles. Eric must have rattled his brain around, because he looked dazed and confused.

"Throw me another bottle!" Eric ordered Alice. Alice wanted to find one fast, but the one called Hammer entered the RV next, and it didn't look like a wine bottle was going to take him out. He grunted down at his friend on his knees and then glared over at Eric.

"Eric, watch out!" Alice screamed. Hammer gathered a fist full of Eric's shirt and pulled him off the ground. Eric tried to kick himself free, but it was if the muscle mans stomach was made out of rock. While the skinny thug was incapacitated, Alice ran past him with the frying pan held high. She screamed a battle cry and smacked the muscle man's arm as hard as she could. It did absolutely nothing. She gasped when the thug used his free hand to rip the frying pan out of her hands and toss it to the side. He then tossed Eric next, making him land on top of the door. Eric got the wind knocked out of him as his chest smashed onto the knob. The gasp made Alice wince in pain.

"Eric!" She cried. But she wasn't out of danger yet. The muscle man got her around the throat and pulled her toward the open entrance. He could of tossed her onto the concrete outside and cracked her skull open. She clawed at his hand around her throat, using her nails to try and dig into his skin. Nothing was working. He didn't even look like she was hurting him.

"Little elf!" Zeek rushed over to try and help. The skinny thug grabbed his ankle before he could, and pulled him to the floor. It seemed he finally managed to regain his senses. Zeek landed on his back. The sound of his head hitting the floor made Alice want to scream. He hadn't fallen lightly, and it showed when Zeek groaned out in pain.

"Not so fast!" The skinny thug snarled. Eric caught Alice's attention when he suddenly grabbed hold of the muscles man's arm that was holding Alice.

"Let her go!" He tugged as hard as he could. Surprisingly Alice felt the muscle man's grip loosen. Eric was actually making a difference, even though he was half his size. Just a little longer, and he would have freed her, but the sight of something shiny and metallic caught her eye. The skinny thug had pulled out a gun and Eric didn't even see it coming. Alice tried to scream out a warning, but the shot had been fired. The last remembrance of Eric was the blood spatter and the scream out of Alice's throat. It wasn't long after that she was thrown against the wall. She black out in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Mello jumped out of the Mustang, slamming the door behind him. He was far ahead of Matt as he ran toward the RV parked outside of an abandoned theme park. He recognized it as the one Alice had been traveling in. Even though he had fought with Alice, he was sure he could convince her to come with them. He wasn't going to lose his temper. He promised this time he was going to be more patient. He was going to apologize first of course. Matt had told him he had to. Otherwise Alice wasn't going to listen to them.

Matt was finally following behind Mello as Mello reached the door. At least, where the door used to be. From what he could see, the door was lying on top of a blue couch. And it looked to be in bad shape. There was also the smell of burnt chocolate in the air. As if somebody had been baking and they left it in the oven for too long. Cursing loudly, Mello ran inside the RV, stepping in a pool of blood. His heart almost stopped when he thought it was Alice's. Was he too late to save her? Did L get to her first?

"MATT!" Mello yelled for his friend. Matt was behind him in seconds, staring down at the blood with wide eyes.

"What the…?" Matt's eyes followed the trail. It led him to a young man laying on the floor, his arm draped across his stomach, and a bullet wound on his chest. "Oh no," Matt ran to the boy's side, immediately checking his pulse. His eyes were closed, but Matt was relieved to feel a pulse. His breaths were short, but at least he was still alive. Thankful for the gloves that Alice had got him from France, Matt put pressure on the wound to stop it from bleeding. Mello was running his hand through his hair and pacing back and forth.

"What happened to Ace?"

"We need to get this guy some help Mello!" Matt demanded.

"Damnit!" Mello cursed. "Alright, let's get this guy to a hospital first." He gave in. He wasn't going to let an innocent die in front of him. He wasn't that ruthless. "Let's get him to the car."

Tires screeching outside made Matt and Mello stop what they were doing and freeze. There was more than one black SUV pulling up into the parking lot. Mello immediately reached around to pull his gun out from behind his shirt. He recognized L's goonies, and he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

"Wait Mello!" Matt stopped him. "There are too many of them!" And Matt was right. A group of suited men came out of the SUV's, each carrying a weapon and sporting a stylish set of sunglasses. Mello's glare turned into a growl. He ground his teeth together, making his jaw argue in pain. He really didn't want to get caught. But it didn't look like they were going to let him go so easily. One of the suited men stepped up and pulled out a mega phone.

"You two are to come with us!" He began. "Under the authority of Near!"

"YOU GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**Cretha Loesing, ****hikari-hime 01, ****xGrellSutcliffx, ****Karen**, **hello-totoro-ninja**, **Bree Renee, ****Vital-Regions-RPrussian-Territory, ****xiannu007, ****I Am Pandora, ****Angel Ayame, ****CrazyInAbottle, Sofia10Soccer, XBloodMageRikaX, freaksforever, weirdismyname, Saber Amane, Speckles719, MsBlondiePunch, GiveInToTemptation, SOME ONE YA DONT KNOW, and Marcie. **(Mother of a baby Jesus squirrel, there were so many reviewers! Sorry if I used the squirrel lords name in vain, but I couldn't stop myself. I was too amazed at how many people read this story and actually like it! Thank you all for putting up with me for this long! I have a tear in my eye. I am such a crybaby!)

**Ironicsheep: **Thank you so much for recommending this story to your friends! You've now made my day!**  
**

**NiiNiiChii: **Oh my, you are too kind! I can't believe you think so highly of me! I'm truly honored! I can promise you this story will have a happy ending. I can't stand stories that end with tragedy. I need happy endings! I can't give anything away, but I'm sure if you think I'm that good of a writer, then I'm sure you will enjoy the plot that will unfold. Thank you so much for your review! I can't stop smiling! xD**  
**

**Yumeno: **hehe~ Charlie. You are so nice! Thank you for all the complements! I can't believe I'm able to effect you that much with my story. I'm still learning, so it makes me so happy to know I'm improving! And to be your favorite? I'm truly blessed to have a reviewer like you! xD**  
**

** Bebbingtoe: **Oh my god! You made me laugh so hard with the comment "Man-period". I seriously almost peed my pants! And he didn't thank you for that chainsaw? THAT BASTERD! I'm going to have a stern talk with him, and then I am going to send him over to you with a plate of cookies and an apology. If he doesn't show up, tell me. I'll just get Alice to chase after him. I'm sure he'll appreciate that. **  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **...Think like L...think like L...think like L...think like the greatest detective in the world...oh, that should be easy, right? Let's see *places thumb to bottom lip*...a paradox hm? A phrase that leads to a contradiction. Which means the answer must be some form of speech possibly? The answer is only three letters long...hm...a word for a statement that's only three letters long...sap? No...that can't be right...the worse it gets...the better...a...joke...OH! It's a PUN! One of those slap stick comedy lines! Am I right? Please say I'm right! **  
**

** Blue Fire Lily: **Yes! I shall have the Pegasus! He can help me to the bomb shelter so Near wont be able to kill me. xD**  
**

** wolf neko: **Ho ho ho! It's a mystery ain't it? I can't tell you a thing. You're just going to have to keep reading to find out. =D**  
**

** g-minor-art: **YAY, you're back! No need to be sorry. I'm just happy to know your still reading it. =) I'm so happy that you like Zeek! He was so much fun to create!**  
**


	46. The Story of Maria

Welcome to the 45th chapter of _An Ace up my Sleeve_!

Uhm...This chapter is epically long, I know...

And It has got a lot of new information in it that may or may not blow your mind.

That all depends on how well I wrote it, or if you even like my story.

This chapter wont have a lot of humor in it,

so I'm really sorry for bumming any of you out!

I do swear the humor will return, with a vengeance!

So please keep on reading!

I hope you enjoy!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, but I take full ownership of My newest OC's Eric and Zeek. I'll include Maria too since she is going to be a big part of this chapter.)_

* * *

**The Story of Maria  
**

Watari stood over L, watching the screen in front of him. L had his thumb on top of his bottom lip as usual, but the frown didn't go unnoticed by Watari. L was taking a moment away from his work to observe the interrogation of Mello. He would have been the one asking the questions, but from the amount of hate Mello had for him, he wouldn't expect him to say much. Unless L would have wanted to hear Mello cursing at him all day, he decided it would be best to let his successor do the talking. He offered Near the position of the interrogator, and Near was all too willing to oblige. Of course, he should have considered the other spiteful hate Mello carried around with him. Near was yet another individual who Mello could not stand, and it showed when Near tried to get him to talk. Even though Mello was chained to the table, it was obvious to see through his body language how defensive he was. He refused to say a word for the first half hour, and finally when Near nagged him enough, he exploded with a colorful array of sailor vernacular. To be honest, L was impressed with the wide vocabulary Mello seemed to have accumulated. It wasn't as if anybody in the Wammy house could have taught him any of those words.

"If you like sir, I could speak with the boy." Watari offered.

"That won't be necessary. Near has to learn on his own."

"Then what about Matt?" Watari turned to the next screen. Sitting a similar room was Matt, chained to the table. He was alone however, left to think about his actions. L made sure to separate the two. He wanted to get both sides of the story, and he was more confident that Matt would speak first.

"Leave him to me. I get the feeling I know what this is all about, and I'm sure Matt will help clarify my assumptions."

"Very well. Before you speak with Matt, would you like me to go over my findings of Tyler Alchi?"

"You've finished already?" L was surprised.

"There wasn't much to find L. Other than his police record, he's been nothing but an average citizen, living under low expenses and traveling through the state like a stray dog. He's a dropout from high school, but he seems to get by on his own without much trouble. His roommate Doug had been involved with some serious drug dealers, but from what I've gathered, Mr. Alchi has had no such interactions."

"Are you sure he is harmless?" L had to know. He trusted Watari's research, but when it came to Alice's safety, L tended to be more strict.

"As harmless as they come." Watari smiled. L's shoulders relaxed. At least he could check off one less danger off the list. But that still left an entire drug trafficking community and a southern charm cowboy. Yes, he still considered Eric to be a threat, but that was under a whole different category of threats. Even though he should have felt some sort of remorse for Eric after finding out he was shot, he had no such feelings. The reason for his heartless attitude was because for one, he took Alice away from him, two, L finally got to see what Eric looked like and he hated to say it, but his features weren't bad to look at, and three, he survived the gunshot anyway, so he had nothing to feel guilty about. He was alive and in safe hands under some of the best medical teams L could find. Alice would surly thank him for it later, as long as they could save her first.

It seemed she and Mr. Alchi were both kidnapped by the two hitmen L was suppose to catch. If there was ever a time where L felt failure, it was then. Not only did he let her wonder off on her own, but he let her get hurt in the process. He couldn't even comfort her when she was crying. He never felt so useless in his life. But he wasn't going to sit around and mope about it. He was the greatest detective in the world. He was going to get her back. But he was going to need a little help first, and that meant he needed Matt and Mello to cooperate with him. If he could get Matt on his side, then he was sure to win over Mello as well.

"Thank you Watari." L got up from his chair. Watari let him pass by with a bow. It didn't take long for L to reach the holding cell Matt was in. The basement of the hotel they were staying at was surprisingly small. Built with concrete bricks, the foundation left the entire floor in a state of an arctic chill. There hadn't been locked rooms before, but with enough persuasion and money, L managed to renovate the basement to his desires. He would have to thank the management of the hotel later for allowing him to do so. They were even kind enough to allow him to have a room with a holding cell, built with metal bars and the whole shebang. He wasn't going to use it, unless it was absolutely necessary.

Standing in front of the door, L took a moment to clear his head. He wasn't going to just waltz in the room and start yelling at Matt. He wasn't going to call Matt any names or criticize his poor judgment. He was there to listen. To try and understand why he did what he did. Even though L wanted to slap them and blame them for all of Alice's misfortunes, he had no right too. He was as much to blame as the rest of them. He probably carried more of the blame then the others, but he wasn't going to say anything. Taking a deep breath, he turned the handle and let his instincts as a detective take over.

* * *

"The longer we waste our time talking here, the greater the chance Ace will get hurt." Near was straight to point. He had been blunt from the very beginning, touching on the subject Mello fully tended to ignore. He had no reason to tell Near anything. Near was nothing but a narcissistic robot who didn't care about anybody but himself. Mello had far too much pride to even want to look him in the eye. Near didn't deserve to know Mello's reasoning behind his departure. Mello was going to keep his mouth shut tight, no matter what Near said.

Keeping his eyes on the wall, Mello sneered at Near's attempts to try and persuade him. Of course he worried about Alice, but instead of complying with Nears demands, Mello decided to think of an escape instead. He could dropkick Near across the room and run out that way. That satisfied Mello's internal hatred.

"Do you blame yourself for Maria'a death?" That got Mello to look at Near. His sneer turned into utter shock, but was drastically altered into a fierce glare that almost looked as if he were about to hiss.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! DON'T YOU EVER SAY HER NAME!" His wild scream caused his chair to fall back on the ground behind him. Near made no attempt to pick it up. If Mello was willing to stand up for the rest of the interrogation, then who was he to stop him? It was his response he was truly after. It had taken him a while, but Near was close to breaking him. All it took was a few pulls of Mello's heart strings. Sure the method was dirty, but Near didn't particularly care. As long as he got his renegade to talk, then he was satisfied.

"Do you think of Ace as Maria? Does Ace remind you of her Mello?"

Mello never wanted to punch somebody so much in his life. Near was being arrogant as ever. Mello wanted to push the metal table and crush Near against the wall until he saw the life drain out his eyes. But unfortunately the table was bolted down. So Mello was stuck being chained and listening to the annoying fly buzz around him.

"Maria and Ace are two different people." Mello answered him with a low growl. Near twisted a piece of his hair and gazed into Mello's cold glare. Mello hated it the most when Near twisted his hair.

"What is it about L that you distrust? You are aware he was the one who put BB behind bars. Would that not make him the hero of this story?"

"He's no goddamn hero. If he were really as great as they say he is, then he should have caught Beyond long before he killed Maria." The hatred in Mello's eyes was all the proof Near needed. Near knew Mello was intelligent, so behind his spiteful attitude, there had to be some logical explanation.

"So you're punishing L for his failure to capture Beyond…"

"NO!" Mello slammed his fists down, hoping to rattle Near. Of course it did nothing. Near wasn't taken by surprise. He was robot, plain and simple. "I'm saving her…" His voice trailed off. Near tilted his head to the side, hoping to make eye contact with the blonde. Mello had moved his focus to his bound hands. They were turning white from the amount of pressure he was squeezing them.

"Saving who?"

The memories started to flood like a tidal wave on a shore. Mello couldn't stop the images from flashing right before his eyes. The memories of Maria's smile or her boisterous laugh. The fond memories of when she was always there for the children whenever they needed her. It was as if a movie was playing in Mello's head, and he couldn't find the stop button.

***FLASHBACK* **

_Mello fiddled with the wrapping paper on his chocolate bar. His legs were perched up on the armrest and his head was resting on the cushion. He had been in that position for what seemed like an hour. Matt would have been with him, but he was too busy in the bathroom blow-drying his hair. Mello was stuck waiting for the beauty queen to finish. He would never understand why Matt even cared if his hair looked good or not. It wasn't as if they were visiting the Queen. They were just going to play cops and robbers. Matt was going to the robber for Christ's sake! Sighing to himself, Mello just continued to grumble to himself about how pathetic his friend was. _

_"MELLO!" A high pitched squeal called out his name, making his heart stop momentarily. He shot up when he saw Maria run into the room, completely out of breath. Her short brown wisped around her chin. Her caramel color skin made her brown freckles stand out on her nose and cheeks. Her eyes carried a glow of life behind then, most likely from the adrenaline coursing through her veins. The dark brown was the same color of chocolate Mello enjoyed, though he would never tell Maria such pitiable complements. Around her neck was her rosary. Out of all the ones living in the house, Maria seemed to be the only one who had a religious faith. Mello would never come to understand why. _

_"What now?" His frown deepened. Maria always tended to over exaggerate, so Mello was more than prepared to hear what kind of foolish story she had for him. But to his surprise, her panic turned into a smile. _

_"Just thought I come say Hi before you left." _

_"Don't go yelling out someone's name like that unless there's a problem!" Mello yelled at her stupidity. Maria laughed in return, finding Mello's anger to be the highlight of her day. _

_"Acalme pequeno irmão. There is no need for you to be upset." She held up her hands in defense. Mello felt his face heat up. Once in a while Maria would speak in Portuguese. Or she would run off in Spanish. It was never entirely clear what language was her mother tongue, but she was fluent in both._

_"Stop calling me your little brother! We aren't related!" Mello growled. He understood her of course. She had taught him the two languages as they were growing up together. He hated it the most when she referred to him as a little brother. Just because there was a seven year age difference between them, didn't mean she had the right to call him her little brother. _

_"Well you're 14 years old, what else am I suppose to call you? I could call you baby brother if you like…" Maria thought up a proposal. Mello's temper was only enraged. _

_"Just use my name!" _

_"No," She crossed her arms. Mello would have exploded by that point, but Matt entered the room, diminishing any of the tension that was between them. _

_"You ready little brother?" _

_"FUCK YOU!" _

***END OF FLASHBACK***

Near observed Mello's quiet state. The white in his knuckles were slowly starting to turn pink once again, which meant he was loosening his grip. He must have been going through some form of resolution, because the next thing Near knew, he was staring into the glare of Mello, only this time it wasn't as cold as the last. Near didn't feel nearly as intimidated by it like the last one. Unbeknownst to Mello, Near did as a matter of fact occasionally fear Mello's overpowering stature. He would never show Mello this fear, knowing Mello would use it to his full advantage. There was no question that Mello was physically more powerful then Near. Near had only his intellect to rely on and it was his only protection.

"I'm going to protect Alice." Mello finally gave Near an answer. Mello had even dropped using her nickname to show how serious he was. For the first time in his 16 years of his life, Near was speechless.

* * *

"Matt,"

"I understand how our approach with Ace was wrong, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I was wrong to assume you have bad intentions." Matt didn't look away, no matter how awkward L's stare was.

"And what are my so called _bad intensions_?"

"History tends to repeat itself, wouldn't you agree?"

"In a way, yes I would agree." L already understood where Matt was going with his explanation.

"Then you should understand why we would have suspicions between you and Ace after such a short period of time."

"You think this interest I have developed for this girl will have the same consequences Maria had, right?"

For a moment, Matt was speechless; amazed by the fact that L had so willingly admitted his interest for Alice. It was as if Matt was the one conducting the interrogation, and he was getting all the answers he needed. After such great success, he decided to see if he could take it further.

"When you say interest, do you mean of the romantic sorts?"

It was a game of wits. L was right to have made Matt one of his successors. As long as he applied himself, then he was a master of manipulation. But unfortunately for Matt, L had planned the switched roles. What Matt wanted most was trust, and the only way L knew how to win his trust was to just be truthful. If that meant letting Matt feel some form of power, then L was going to have to oblige.

"I will not deny your premise,"

Matt's lips formed a hard line, concentrating on the expression L was making. His stare was neutral; as it always was, but he could have sworn he saw something spark in his eyes. If there was one thing certain that Matt could feel at ease about, it was that L's eyes were nothing like Beyond's. They may have shared similar habits and features, but when it came to their eyes, Matt noticed the difference immediately. That made it easier to trust him.

"If you're going to continue being honest with me, then I want you to explain why you took Ace with you to France. I find it hard to believe it was purely out of affection. After speaking with her today, it was apparent she hadn't even known about your feelings."

It felt as if a cloud of heavy fog fell over L. The weight made his shoulders slump and his neck almost lose the support needed to keep his head up. Of course Alice hadn't noticed. That was L's plan all along. But in the back of his mind, he had hoped that maybe Alice had suspected something. She was supposed to be psychic…

"I thought Ace had told you the reason?" L held back his depression. "She had called me earlier and told me what had happened between you both."

"Ace gave me her testimony, and now I want to hear it from you." Matt stated with a level head. He wasn't surprised to know Alice had contacted L.

"Very well," L sighed. The truth was the only way to fix the misunderstanding, and it was the only way L was going to win back his successors. At least, he hoped. There was an off chance they would think of him as a liar and try to kill him. Thankfully he carried a gun with him wherever he goes.

* * *

***MARIA***

_The Wammy house was known for its intelligent children, opening its doors for those who had the ability to do something extraordinary. Intelligence ruled the foundation of the houses structure, though physical endurance was always a second best. Not many children were accepted to the house, and even with its high standers for applicants, the children still had to be considered orphaned. Without their mothers or fathers, these children formed a tight knit group, coming together to reach an ultimate goal. They worked hard to become detectives._

_But what had started this goal? Who had made this orphanage? _

_Watari may have been reaching his golden years, but he was experienced enough to known the trick of the trade. Owning an orphanage had always been a dream of his. He's seen the struggles of children for too many years. So building the Wammy house was just his first step to his dream. With a little help from his good friend Roger, they had made a house worthy of his vision. After the house was complete, all they had to do was fill it with children. Watari already had a group ready for the house. Each one of them had an amazing talent. _

_His most prized student was a young Asian named L, who never seemed to want to wear shoes or comb his hair. But odd trait aside, he never complained about his students. There were six others after L, each just as promising as the next. Not wanting to expose their personal identities, he gave them each a nickname._

_A was close to L's age, though for some reason he could never get along with L. Of course, L didn't particularly get along with most people. Watari seemed to be the only one who could ever get close to him. But A was a gentle soul, who found mercy to be much more powerful. 'Innocent until proven guilty' was a testimony he lived by. But such wholesome idealism did nothing but cause him pain and suffering. With the pressure of succeeding L's brilliance and fighting against the justice system, A had eventually cracked under the pressure. He ended his life at the age of 14. _

_BB, or Beyond Birthday was later thought to have pressured A to end his life, but nobody had been able to prove it. BB was similar to L in many ways. To L's mannerism, and even to his love for sweets. It was as if BB and L were twins, though again, L wanted to have nothing to do with any of them. L isolated himself away from the children, so BB never got the chance to be close with his so called twin. Not that BB ever complained about that. BB was just as isolated as L was, though there had always been something wrong with the child. Watari had early on noticed the malevolent glow in BB's eyes. While L's eyes carried a passion for solving murders, BB's eyes seemed to carry a different passion in them. Watari wouldn't come to know what that passion was until that faithful day BB went astray. _

_Unfortunately Ruby had been pulled into Beyond's troubled past. She had been such a promising girl, close to succeeding L. Coming from a Latin background; she had been one of the most charismatic characters in the house. She had only been two years younger than L, but age never held her back from her brilliance. She had even attempted to befriend L and BB, even though they were clear about wanting to be alone. She had never won over L, especially since L didn't stay in the house for long. But she managed to get close to Beyond. Watari had hoped Ruby would have been good for Beyond. But there was no such success. Beyond took her life away at the early age of 24. After her death, she was given back her real name, carved into the headstone as a remembrance to her powerful impression she left upon the house. Maria De Swan Manzana. _

_The last three children welcomed into the home were under the aliases, X, Y, and Z. All three eventually could never live up to L's name, so they left the house in pursuit of making a name for themselves. Watari was proud of them no matter what career they took. But after the first generation, eventually a second, third and fourth generation would be welcomed into the home. Among the fourth generation, there stood Mello, Matt, and Near. Later, more children would be welcomed into the group, making up the fifth and sixth generations. Those generations consisted of Tinker, Henchman, Charlie, Lea, Liam, and Bouncy the baby. And the cycle would continue on with each generation. _

_With such a bright array of students, how could Watari ever regret putting together a perfect orphanage? But there was some regret. Regret that a monster among lambs had been released out into the world. Watari should have paid more attention to the other children, but he had been so focused on L that he nearly lost his reasoning for building the house in the first place; his love for children. He should have paid attention to all the warning signs about Beyond, but by the time he took action, it was too late. _

**_January 26th, 2004 (A year before the end of her life)_**

_There had been many rumors flying around the Wammy house, mostly about secret doors or hidden treasure. But a recent rumor had started to grow among the whispers; A rumor about Beyond and Ruby's frequent travels together. They had become partners a few years back, deciding to help each other become better detectives. But the children grew suspicious after a while, noticing how Ruby wouldn't leave Beyond's side. Most of the children were too young to understand, but Mello was aware of the relationship, and he wanted nothing more than to break it up. _

_He didn't trust BB, especially after all the research he and Matt had put in to discovering his background. Matt had been struggling to find out any information on Beyond for many years, but not a scrap could be uncovered, not even his real name. Of course, hiding the identities of the children in the house were Watari's first priority, but Matt had been able to dig up all the information eventually, which is how his skill's had come to grow. But no matter how hard they tried, BB and L were the only two in the house they could never find information on. If that wasn't suspicious enough, they were also the ones who never stayed in one place. They traveled all over the world working on different jobs. So Mello could never even talk to Beyond. The only connection he had with the guy was through Ruby. _

_So when Mello walked into Ruby's room, he wasn't surprised to find her packing her things for yet another trip around the world. Beyond had returned home with her, but he isolated himself in his room. He never associated with the children. _

_"Where are you going this time?" Mello leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed. Seeing her pack didn't exactly make him happy. He had only got to see her for a week. _

_"It's a secret," she put her index finger to her lips. Mello felt his eye twitch. _

_"You always tell me where you're going." He was surprisingly calm. He was getting better at holding his temper. It seemed Ruby had influenced this quite a bit. _

_"Well this time I can't tell you, but I promise to tell you a big secret when I get back, okay?" _

_"Secret?" Mello was interested. Ruby finished packing the last of her things and smiled over at the 14 year old. _

_"I can't tell you yet, but let's just say this secret of mine makes me especially happy." _

_Mello frowned, knowing this secret of hers would involve Beyond somehow. She only made that sort of face whenever she talked about him. _

_"Why don't we go on a case together?" Mello changed the topic, not wanting to think about BB anymore. Ruby responded to him with a light laugh. No matter what Mello said to her, he always seemed to make her laugh at some point. He didn't know whether he like it or was frustrated by it. _

_"Sure, when you're older and can drive a car, then we can work on a case together." _

_"I can drive a car, though I prefer motorcycles." _

_The comment only made Ruby laugh more. _

_"Legally mi hermano menor. You can't break the law when you're a detective."_

_Mello grumbled to himself about Ruby calling him her little brother, but he didn't push it any further. At least she agreed to work on a case with him. He agreed with her anyway about getting older first. He was tired of looking like a child, and he wanted to prove to Ruby he could grow up and be a man. He would have to become taller than her first, but it wouldn't be long before he accomplished that._

_"Mello," Ruby used her hushed voice, staring down at her luggage. Mello's attention was drawn to her eyes. _

_"Hm?" _

_Ruby stepped away from her bed and started to walk over to Mello. Mello was surprised by her sudden movements as he took a step back away from her door. When she reached him, she stood only a few inches over him, looking down into his light aqua colored eyes. _

_"No matter where I go or what happens to me, we are always going to be together, okay?"_

_Mello's surprise was written all over his face, not to mention the pink that was starting to form around his cheeks. _

_"What the hell are you talking about?" His foul mouth started to resurface. He managed to make her giggle once again. _

_"All of us in the house are a family, so no matter what, we will always have each other to rely on. Don't you ever forget that. Even Beyond and L are our family, no matter how far away they are. Do you understand?" _

_At the mention at of Beyond and L, Mello's surprise turned into a deep frown, but he managed to keep his thoughts to himself. Ruby looked happy, and he couldn't ruin their moment together with some lip about how Beyond was bad for her or how L didn't care about them. He just nodded his head instead and let her arms wrap around his shoulders. She hugged him tight, waiting a good ten seconds for Mello to relax in her arms. She then let go and patted him on the head. Mello swatted her hand away, hating it the most when she would use silly gestures like those to make him feel younger. _

_"Don't pat my head, I'm not a dog." _

_Ruby's laugh echoed down the halls. _

**_June 17th, 2004 (Five months before the end of her life)_**

_Mello was in a frenzy to clean his room; though his method of cleaning meant to stuff everything under the bed. He never believed in wasting his time with cleaning up messes. He would make enough money in the future to have servants to do that form him. But for the time being, each of the children had to clean their rooms, which included Mello. But this was the first time Mello didn't mind the clean up, because the thought of Ruby returning from her trip made it all worth it. And what made her visit even better was the fact that Beyond was not returning with her. It was just going to be Ruby without the annoying leech. He almost found himself smiling. _

_Mello heard a knock on his door, so he rushed to push the rest of his clothes under his bed. His door opened up right when he finished throwing a sock under his mattress. _

_"You almost done?" his friend Matt stepped into the room. _

_"Finished." He said as he walked over to his friend. Matt's smile turned into a smirk when he got a good look at Mello's expression. _

_"You looked excited about something," he snickered. Mello glared at Matt, bunching up his fists to prepare himself if he needed to punch him in the gut. _

_"Shut up," Mello stomped by him to exit his room. Matt followed him with a low chuckle. _

_"Your happy because Ruby is coming back, right?" Matt got close behind him. Mello swung around and was ready to yell some profanity at Matt until the sound of the front door was slammed shut. Mello stopped what he was doing and looked to the stairs that led to the entry way. His heart started to beat faster. Downstairs, he could hear children start to laugh and giggle, calling out Ruby's name playfully. Without even giving Matt a second look, Mello ran towards the stairs. He took two steps at a time, making his decent in record speeds. When he reached the bottom, he got a flash of Ruby's dark brown hair and caramel colored skin. The children surrounded her at the door, pulling on her long skirt and trying to get her attention. _

_Mello had to stop at the start of the stairs when he noticed something in her arms. His breath caught in his throat and it seemed as if his heart suddenly got cold as ice. There was a bundle of blankets in her arms, and it was the right size for a baby, though he couldn't see a body yet. Maybe she just liked carrying pastel pink blankets around. When Ruby spotted Mello near the stairs, her face lit up. _

_"Mello!" she squealed happily. Mello didn't make any attempt to move. Ruby instead parted the crowd of children like the red sea, and made her way over to the shocked looking teen. "I want you to be the first to see her," _

_"Her?" Mello didn't realize he talked. His words sounded muffled to him, as if he was under water. Even the crowd of children behind Ruby started to sound mute. _

_"Mello, I want you to meet somebody very special to me." Her smile was soft and warm. Mello felt comforted by her smile for only that moment, until she lifted a part of the pink blanket. There in her arms was a small pale white baby with dark curly hair. Her eyes were closed, so the color was unknown, but she looked peaceful. "Her name is Rebecca," Ruby's voice sounded euphoric. There was no doubt she love the child in her arms. Mello felt as if time had stopped, and he was stuck inside his head wondering about what was going on around him. Why was Ruby holding a baby in her arms? Where could she have possibly gotten the child from?_

_"Is that a baby?" Matt snapped Mello from his trance. Matt was standing behind Mello on the first step, looking over his shoulder at the small pale bundle in Ruby's arms. _

_"This is Rebecca," Ruby sounded giddy, as if she had just won some big prize from a fancy game show. Mello felt a hand tighten on his shoulder. No doubt it was Matt keeping his steady. _

_"Where did she come from?" Matt asked the question Mello had been hoping would never come about. He didn't want to know. He didn't want o hear who the baby's parents were, and he certainly didn't want to hear it from Ruby. But it was too late; Ruby answered Matt with the same amount of joy she had been emitting since she first arrived. _

_"She is my child. I had her three weeks ago." _

_Matt had even gone speechless. The children behind her however seemed thrilled to hear about the birth of a new family member. They rushed to her side and asked if they could get a glimpse of the new baby girl. Ruby was happy to bend down at their level and show them. She did have to try and get them to be more quiet so they wouldn't wake the girl. But the children cooed over the baby as if she were already apart of the family. Tinker even purposed to make a mobile for the little girl, and Ruby thanked Tinker repeatedly._

_Mello felt Matt's hand tighten on his shoulder. Matt could sense his friends pain, but he could do nothing more than to just let him wallow in silence. After a few minutes of standing in place, Matt felt some movement from Mello. Matt was pushed to the wall as Mello raced back up the stairs. It wasn't a gentle push, which meant Mello was pissed. Matt could only watch his friends back as it disappeared over the horizon. _

_When Mello reached his room, that's when all the questions started to surface. Why did she have a child? Why did she have a child with that man? How did he not notice she was already pregnant before she left? She had to have been at least four months along! And yet she had no signs of a bulging stomach or morning sickness. Mello felt sick to his stomach. Just looking at the baby's white skin made him want to puke. It was Beyond's skin color. The baby could have even gotten his hair color too, though that was still up for debate until the baby was at an older age. _

_Mello stomped over to his bed and started to rip off all the blankets and sheets. His pillow was thrown at his wall, taking down the chalk board that had been hanging over his desk. The sound of the crash satisfied his growing temper, but he needed more. So grabbing the lamp by his bed, he tossed it at his closet door and watched the light bulb shatter into a million pieces. The rest of the lamp just twisted and bent. It was made out of metal anyway, so it wasn't as if he could have broke it. Breathing heavily, Mello stuffed his head into his hands and shook. He wanted to scream and shout, and he wanted to kill Beyond. Thoughts of taking a knife to Beyond's throat filled his head, and it was only a matter of time before he would follow through with such an act. Now he wished Beyond had come back with Ruby. _

_A knock on the door had made him pause his murderous thoughts. Ruby's gentle voice called out his name, sounding worried of course. _

_"What's wrong Mello? Open this door." She was demanding. Mello didn't want to see the baby. He wanted to have nothing to do with that leech's child. The further away from it he was, the more at ease he could be. But Ruby was a persistent woman, who decided to open his door for him. She stomped into the room as if she had every right to do so. Her baby was still in her arms, so Mello looked to the floor to avoid looking at it. "Look at me Mello."_

_Mello's fists clenched tight together. _

_"What's wrong? Talk to me. Tell me what's wrong." _

_His hands started to shake under the pain of nails digging into his skin. _

_"Mello! Please say something. I'm worried about you!"_

_His teeth followed along with his fists, clenching together in a tight hold. _

_"Mello!"_

_His body started to shake even more. _

_"Say something!" _

_"I HATE IT!" his voice echoed in the room. _

_"What?" Ruby's voice got quiet. It was painful for Mello to hear, cause the hurt in her voice was as clear as day. But that didn't stop his rage from surfacing. _

_"I HATE THAT BABY! WHY DID YOU HAVE IT? THAT THING SHOULDN'T EXSIST!" _

_Ruby's hands tightened around her child. Her frown deepened, but she didn't take her eyes off Mello. Mello however couldn't take his gaze off the floor. No matter how much he hated the child, he could never come to hate Ruby. So he didn't want to show her the kind of expression he had. Yelling was the only way he could tell her his real feelings. _

_"You don't mean that." Ruby was calm._

_"THAT THING IS NOTHING BUT A LEECH!" _

_"MELLO!" That got Mello to look up from the floor. Ruby wasn't one to ever yell, so hearing her voice at such a high octave momentarily stunned Mello. "DON'T YOU EVER INSULT MY CHILD! IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING HURTFUL TO SAY, THEN YOU SAY IT TO ME!" Mello's shock grew when he saw tears well up in her eyes. Never had he ever made her cry in his entire life. No matter how much he had yelled at her in his past, she would always laugh at him instead. So why wasn't she laughing now? How could he have made her cry? _

_Seeing her storm out the room next made Mello's legs limp. He slowly pulled his hands to his face and squatted to the floor. The shocked expression on his face never seemed to disappear. _

_Just outside his door was Matt leaning against the wall. One hand was covering over his goggles, while the other was clenching to his shirt. His frown gave him pain. He never frowned much to begin with, but seeing his friend in such a state make him think he was completely useless. There was nothing he could have done to help Mello. He wondered how long it was going to be before he would have his friend back. _

**_December 5th (One week before the end of her life)_**

_Ruby had stayed at the house to take care of her baby girl. She was given a different room so both her and her new child would be comfortable. For the five months that she stayed at the house, Mello avoided looking at the child as if it were the blinding sun. He didn't want to be reminded of how that thing came to be and who it came from. Mostly he locked himself inside his room unless he had lessons to go to. Avoiding Ruby was a different story. Mello didn't want to avoid her. He wanted to be with her like the old times, where they would joke around or try and compete to see who the better detective was. Sadly, Mello tended to always lose the competition, but that would always leave him more determined for the next round. But if he ever ran into Ruby, she would be most likely holding the child. He could never understand why she never put her down. There was nothing cute about the thing. It cried a lot, and giggled with this annoying laugh. It always smelled bad and made messes worse then what Mello could do to his room. Mello was never going to have children when he grew up._

_When Matt entered his room, he noticed how slow Matt had become. For a long time Mello hadn't been paying attention to anyone. He isolated himself just as much as L and Beyond had. But seeing Matt come in brought him back to some form of reality. _

_"I know you don't want to see her, but Ruby is going to be leaving again soon. She really wants to see you before she leaves." _

_Mello took a moment to think about it. He didn't know Ruby was going to leave so soon. This only frustrated him more. No doubt she was going to go back to Beyond. Knowing this, Mello got up from his chair. He walked out his room without even giving Matt any acknowledgement. He made the small journey down the hall until he reached her room. Her door was closed, but Mello heard the giggles of her baby inside. That made him stop. Did he really want to go in there with that thing? _

_"Mello?" He heard Ruby from the other side. Somehow she always knew he was around, as if she had some sort of sixth sense. When her door opened, Mello was ready to see her child in her arms. But surprisingly her arms were empty. That gave him some relief. "I'm so happy you came," her smile drew Mello inside her room. He was forced inside, where his first focus lay on the crib in the corner of the room. His eyes darted away from it with disgust._

_"I have to leave again," she said with sadness. It was the first time she had ever sounded disappointed about leaving the house. That only made him angrier. Why hadn't she ever been disappointed about leaving before? Not waiting to hear him answer, she continued with her speech. "I don't want to leave this house knowing you're upset, so can we please talk without yelling?" _

_Mello could feel the guilt build up inside of him. She sounded just as out of it as Matt had. Had he really influenced them both that much by not speaking with them? _

_"You're going with him again, aren't you?" He decided to speak. Ruby never looked so relieved. _

_"He needs me." _

_"Don't go with him!" _

_"Mello…"_

_"Don't you see it in his eyes? He's not a good person Ruby! He's going to hurt you!" Mello started to sound desperate. With his voice rising, he seemed to have unsettled the baby girl. She started to whimper and sniffle. Ruby's mother instincts took over, and she rushed to the child's side. Mello almost took the moment to run away, but he didn't want to leave her without talking with her first. So he was just going to have to suck it up and let Ruby hold the little leech. When Ruby returned with the child in her arms, Mello avoided looking at the tiny bundle. Rebecca was a little over five months old and yet she was still quite small. _

_"Beyond isn't going to hurt me." Ruby's voice got soft, looking down at her child with such passion and warmth. _

_"That man doesn't deserve you…" _

_Ruby's attention was taken away from her child, over to Mello. Her little surprise turned into a smile. She sighed with content and stepped closer to Mello. Mello started to back away, but Ruby used her one good arm to hold the back of his head. She quickly pressed her forehead onto his in a loving manner, her smile never left her. Mello was stunned into a statue. He couldn't move, no matter how much he wanted to get away. Especially now that the child was right where he could see her. It had been a while since he had laid eyes on her, but her skin was just as pale as the day she arrived. Her hair was growing longer, and it was getting easier to see the color was turning brown. But yet again, her eyes were closed, so Mello had no idea what color they were. _

_"I love you Mello," His surprise got stronger. Even though he knew it wasn't the kind of love he wanted to really hear her say, that still didn't stop his cheeks from heating up. She had said the words, and he wanted to hear them again. "I care about you deeply, and I don't ever want to see you get hurt. So please just listen to my request." She stroked her thumb in his hair. Mello slowly nodded his head to show her he was going to listen. He was tired of avoiding her, and he wanted nothing more than to make her happy. When she pulled away from him, he found himself disappointed, but he kept his face serious. _

_"When I go, Rebecca will be without her mother and father." She began. Mello didn't like where the conversation was going. "I know you don't like her, but I really want you to take care of her. You are the only one I can really trust her with." Mello started to shake his head, but Ruby stopped him. "Please Mello, I need you." Mello's heart did a flip. Her eyes carried most of the plea, but her voice wasn't too far behind. Mello tried to swallow, but he found his throat to be as dry as sand. _

_"I…," was his first word, but Ruby cut him off. _

_"Please watch her, hold her, and keep her smiling. Don't ever let her go, do you understand?" Tears started to pool around her eyes. It was the second time Mello had seen her cry and he hated it. But at least it wasn't his fault this time._

_Ruby's hand grabbed Mello's shoulder when he didn't answer. She tried once more. _

_"Do you understand?" she demanded. Not wanting to see her cry anymore, Mello nodded his head. This brought back her smile and to Mello's relief, her laugh. "Thank you," Her hand stoked his cheek. He liked the touch, but it only lasted for a few seconds. When she moved away from him, his body felt a chill pass through him. She walked back to the crib and set her child inside. "Now I must go." She reluctantly stepped away from her baby. Mello saw how hard it was for her to do. She looked to be in pain as she grabbed her small bag. When she walked by Mello, she grabbed his hand to pull him along. She pulled him all way down the hall and down the stairs. He didn't make any attempts to try and break free. When they reached the entry way, a crowd of children were waiting for them. They ran to Ruby and started to complain about her leaving. Ruby had to let go of Mello to comfort them. Mello stood back and let Ruby do her thing. She always had a way to calm the children down. When the children were settled, they each said their good-byes and hugged her. _

_Mello had his arms crossed as he watched, his sad expression recognizable by Matt when he made an appearance next to Mello. He didn't say a word, only letting his presence be the comfort Mello needed. When the children were done saying their good-byes, Ruby focused on Mello. Mello felt his muscles tense up. Ruby walked over to him and smiled, being just as gentle as her usual self. _

_"Come back soon Ruby," Matt nodded to her. Ruby gave him an even bigger smile._

_"Nothing could keep me away from this house," she laughed. _

_"She needs you," Mello found his voice among the crowd of children. He was even surprising himself. He never though he would consider the leech to have a gender. But she was important to Ruby, and it was link to get her to return to the house, so Mello was going to use Ruby's 'mother instincts' to get her to come back. It worked, since Ruby was nodding her head._

_"You're right, so I'm going to come back as soon as I can. There's one last thing I want you to know before I go." Mello lifted his head a little to see Ruby draw in closer. When she was right next to his ear, she whispered a name. He was stunned for a moment, not sure what he was going to do with the information, but when she pulled away, he saw her delighted smile and turned to mush. She had told him one of the biggest secrets anybody could have in the Wammy house, which meant she truly trusted him with everything. He appreciated that the most, knowing it was just one step further in proving to her he was a man. Right then, he promised upon her return, he would stop hiding from her and just win her away from Beyond without acting like a child. It was time for him to grow up. _

_So by the time Ruby was out the door, the huddled children were at the window watching her walk to her car. Roger was going to take her to the airport, so he was holding the door open for her. But the children's gasps got Mello's attention. He looked out the window next to the front door to see a man standing next to Ruby. Mello felt his skin go ice cold. The man's hair was disheveled and the color of ravens feathers. His skin was milky white, almost sickly even. He was tall, but he a slight hunch to his posture. Mello's breaths became short. He didn't like this man. Just looking at his back, he could sense something sinister. But the real fear was exposed when the man turned his head toward the house before he got into the car. It was his eyes that shook Mello's nerves to the core. They were so black that even darkness couldn't compare. And what made it worse was the fact that he was looking right at Mello. Beyond's name repeated inside of Mello's head. It started out as fear, but soon turned into utter hate. His fists started to shake uncontrollably. _

_Did he just smile?_

_Mello could have sworn he saw Beyond smile before he got into the car. His blood started to boil at an alarming rate. When the car started to move away, Mello jetted out the front door as if he were on fire. Matt had to run after him. He could see his friend's digression as the months had past, and now it was the moment that Mello finally snapped. _

_"BRING HER BACK!" Mello screamed out as he chased after the nonexistent car. By now it was already too far away for anybody to follow by foot. Luckily Matt was a fast runner, so he caught up to Mello in seconds, grabbing him around his torso to pin his arms down. _

_"BRING HER BACK!" Mello screamed one last time in Matt's arms. If Matt would have known Ruby would never come back, he probably would have let Mello go. But Matt had held him back, hoping with all his might that he would he would have his friend return to normal. _

_He missed him. _

**_ December 10th (The day of the end of her life) _**

_The day had been quiet in the morning. Not even Rebecca had made a sound, which was surprising since she cried almost every day for her mother. Even though Mello had promised to take care of her, he never actually touched her. Once in a while he would check in on her to see if she was still alive, but he left the rest of the work to Miss Jane, the housekeeper. He never looked into her eyes though. He never wanted to see Beyond's eyes ever again, and he wasn't going to take the chance with Rebecca. With such little contact with the girl, Mello started to feel a little better. He was talking to Matt again and not locking himself inside his room. He was getting used to the idea of the child, though he would never accept her. But as long as he was neutral, then Ruby would forgive him for all his hatful words._

_Walking by the baby's room, Mello only stopped for a moment to listen. As long as she wasn't crying, he was doing his job. Thankfully she was fast asleep. So he walked downstairs to greet his friend for the morning. What he didn't expect to find was Roger waiting for him in the living room. Matt was looking to the floor, his hair covering up his features so Mello couldn't see what he was feeling. But the way his body was drooping, Mello had known something was wrong. The look in Roger's eyes said it all. _

_"Mello," Roger's voice was raspy. It came with his age. "I'm afraid I have some bad news." _

_Mello's hands started to sweat and throat went dry. Matt didn't make any attempted to look up at him. He was about to shout Matt's name when Roger continued on. _

_"Ruby was murdered this morning."Roger's eyes fell to the floor. He hated to say those words. He had loved Ruby as much as everyone else in the house. _

_"You're lying." Mello didn't want to believe it. That's when Mello heard Matt for the first time, and his voice sounded awful, as if he had been crying. _

_"She's dead." _

_An earth shatter scream came from upstairs. Rebecca had woken up from her nap and she was wailing like there was no tomorrow. Hearing the child, Mello raced up the stairs, leaving behind Matt and Roger without a second thought. When he reached her room, he turned on the lights and ran to her crib. She was kicking and screaming, tears streaming down her cheeks as if she already knew her mother were dead. _

_Mello wanted to shut her up. She was the child of that man and he wanted nothing more than to suffocate her until she stopped crying. Reaching down slowly, his fingers touched her for the first time around the neck. She was soft, but so very loud. Mello would soon stop that. _

_When her eyes snapped open, Mello's hands stopped where they were. He expected to see the hideous black, but to his surprise, they were a chocolate brown. They were Ruby's eyes. He gasped and picked the child out of the crib. He couldn't hurt her. What was he thinking? How could he have hurt Ruby's most treasured love? Holding her close to his chest, he squeezed her tight, letting her cry into his shoulder. There was no end to her tears, as if she knew she would never see her mother again. Mello found himself walking backwards until he hit a wall. He used the wall to lower himself to the ground. _

_The realization of Ruby's death was sinking in. The pain in his heart felt like a fire was burning inside of him. There was numbness in his legs and his hands tried to stay still as they held on to the baby in his arms. _

_Ruby was gone. _

_He couldn't save her._

_He was never going to see that stupid grin or hear her contagious laugh ever again. Mello never cried. Mello believed crying to be for the weak. But he had never felt so much pain in his life before. The loss was too great. Mello buried his head into the child and clenched his teeth tightly. He was never going to cry out loud. He would never give anyone the satisfaction of hearing him cry. And besides, Rebecca was wailing enough for the both of them. Instead, Mello let some tears roll down his cheeks as his grip on Rebecca tightened. _

_"I'll never let you go Cecilia." Mello whispered to the girl, using the name his precious Maria had given to her. _

* * *

Near played with his thumb for a moment, sticking on a little puppet that looked like Alice. He showed it to Mello who had been quiet for some time.

"We need to save Ace, and the only way for that to happen is with your help." Near moved his thumb about. Mello didn't say a word, or even look. "I understand why you hate L so much. The resemblance is uncanny to Beyond's. But you should know they are not the same people."

"And you know this how?" Mello's stare turned hard. Near was about to respond when he realized he didn't have any real evidence to show him. He could have said he just knew, but Mello would never take him seriously. But an idea soon came to mind. He pulled out another little puppet that looked like L and placed it on his other thumb. That way, when he held up his hands, Alice and L would be right next to each other.

"L doesn't have the same eyes."

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! *Squeals for an early result of 800 reviews*

**hikari-hime 01, ****hello-totoro-ninja, ****Bree Renee, ****Karen**, **Xx-Doodle-Dump-xX, ****I Am Pandora, ****Crazyinabottle**, **Ironicsheep, MsBlondiePunch, XBloodMageRikaX, Honakaa-Honami, OhMyGeePinkSucksAss, Bebbingtoe, ************************ShnieseAce**(Yay! Cupcakes! Thank you so much!)******************, ************************g-minor-art**, HybridRebellion, Saber Amane, wolf neko, freaksforever, Sofia10Soccer, axloration and Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit. (Splendid! Just splendid! Your words have inspired me to write! I can't thank you enough for all your support! I feel like running up a mountain and shouting to the world how much I love you all. Then again...that would require running...up hill...On second thought, Ill just scream in my pillow and scare my cat off my bed. =D)

**Yumeno: **Black forest cake? I don't know what that is, but I totally would want to try and make it! Know any good recipes you're willing to share? I would understand if you want to keep them a secret. But I'm always willing to learn something new! Especially when it comes to baking sweets!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **I GOT IT RIGHT! *Throws a balloon party* Okay, next challenge! This supposive "snake" sounds like a root of some sort. It claims to be underground, so that would make sense, right? Is it a root?

**********************Speckles719**: You're so lucky! I wish I could make pies! They are the most difficult pastry to make! I'm pretty good at brownies though. But I must admit, I have no such recipe that makes them amazing. For that, again, I am jealous of you. And you make my story sound so epic! I hadn't noticed the long list of drama that I seem to have been accumulating. hehe~ You flatter me!**  
**

********************** nin-th/kathix**: Congratulations for reading it all! Your review for my 31st and 44th chapter was so sweet that I nearly squealed with delight. I can't thank you enough for your kind words. I understand completely how you felt when you watched L die. I couldn't stand it either! I got so upset that I started to imagine a life where everyone was happy and alive. This daydream soon turned into a story that I just had to post. At first for kicks and giggles, but it's soon turned into a passion of mine. I certainly don't deserve to have such a high status of royalty. But I'm literally jumping up and down in my room at the thought of more Fan Art. I'm so happy! I can't wait to see what you make! You can take as much time as you need. I'm honored to have made your day better. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside just knowing I made somebody smile! THANK YOU! xD

**Sara and Kisa: **You both are such a delight! (I'm assuming there are two of you, unless you have a split personality, which would be just as Fantastic!). I am trying to fix my grammar and spelling errors. I'm a horrible editor, so of course I will always miss something. But that just means I have to work harder! Thank you both for the review! It makes me so happy to know that I've stayed in character and have made you smile! xD**  
**

** Invincible Shadow: **I don't care if you wrote me a whole book for a review, I absolutely love you! I would hate to get lip from Fabron, so I will post the next chapter as soon as I can. THANK YOU so much for your complements! I can't stop smiling every time I read your review (And yes, that does imply I've read it more then once...). You really have brightened up my day. And I would love to take on your riddle challenge! Ok...this is a tough one...would it be like butterfly's in your stomach? I really don't have a clue. I am baffled.

**Dark-plus-BB-equals-Luvs: **Stalking is like one of my favorite games! I would never block you! Your review was just so amazing! I'm incredibly ecstatic that you love Alice. I don't care if you come off as sophisticated or crazy, I still am utterly grateful for all the wonderful things you wrote to me! So thank you! My face hurts from smiling so much. If I keep this up, I'm going to be stuck smiling like the Cheshire Cat (That wouldn't be pretty...). xD**  
**


	47. Time to Kick Some Ass!

I have something to admit to you all...

I've only read the manga and watched the anime of Death note.

Which means I've never seen any of the live action movies, or read any of the books.

So in retrospect, I have absolutely no idea what _Beyond Birthday's_ personality is like, since he was only featured in the book.

I of course did research, but when I wrote about him, I was merely piecing together what I believed to be his personality.

So if I portrayed his character in a way that is horrendous, then by all means, beat the crap out of me. You would have every right too.

On a lighter note! THERE IS MORE FAN-ART!

There are two new pictures, one of Alice, and the other of Alice and L with their potential offspring, and they were both drawn by _**Annindofu**._

The link is on my profile, so you should all go look at it and tell her how beautiful they are! xD**  
**

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

**P.S.** The reason this chapter is so early is because I'm leaving for Florida today to visit some family. I'll be gone for a week, which gives me no time to write. So my next chapter after this should be posted on the regular date of within two weeks (hopefully). I'm not looking forward to my 12 hour flight...-_-**  
**

* * *

**Time to Kick some Ass!  
**

The room felt like it was spinning. Alice felt sick. Her back ached with a painful throb, and her arm felt like it had been ripped from her body. She couldn't feel her legs, though she did notice her body was shivering. So wherever she was, it must have been cold. Or she was incredibly lethargic. Either way, she didn't like it.

Alice tried to move her fingers. Luckily both her hands worked, which meant her arms were still attached to her. She regretted the sigh of relief next. Her ribs felt as if they were bruised. The pain almost made her cry out, but she stopped herself. She wasn't sure where she was or who was with her. So she didn't want to give away her newly restore consciousness in case the two thugs were there. Using her ears instead, she listened for any noise that could tell her where she was.

The floor felt cold and hard; probably made out of cement. Keeping her breaths light, she waited to hear if someone else was in the room. At first the sound was muffled, as if her head hadn't quiet regained its full workability yet. But eventually the sound turned into somebody's heavy breathing, and Alice hoped to god it wasn't one of the hitmen. Judging by the way the breaths were scratchy and irregular, they didn't sound like they were in good health.

Using her nose, Alice picked up on some metallic smells. She could also smell gasoline and other odd scents like it. If she were to guess the location, she would say it was some sort of warehouse. On the debriefing with L before she came to America, she remembered talking about some sort of warehouse the dealers used.

Since she had some time to think, Alice had to try and see what she remembered last. She recalled being in the RV with Eric and Zeek, making some amazing brownies. Then her thoughts unintentionally went to the idea of the brownies being burnt, and that made her sad. But she was sucked back into reality when she remembered the two hitmen storming in. Eric had a plan to give back the money, but for some odd reason, it wasn't under the table like it was suppose to be. Where did the money go? It wasn't as if Eric or Zeek ever had an opportunity to move it. And she never touched the bag. So then, what could have happened to it?

Hearing the scratchy breaths again made Alice rethink who was with her. She couldn't imagine the big muscle man to have such a rough time breathing. He didn't get hurt in the fight. And she doubted the skinny one got hurt to the point where he couldn't breathe right. So that only left Zeek or Eric. Her stomach turned uncomfortably when she thought about Eric. The gunshot had been so loud, that even her ears still felt like they were ringing. The replay in her head made her want to empty her stomach. There had been so much blood. If the breathing was coming from Eric, then at least she would have the satisfaction of knowing he was still alive. But that still left Zeek in the unknown. He could have been killed. He was the target to begin with. Just thinking about the idea of Zeek being dead made Alice want to cry. She adored the fool! She had wanted to protect him from the evil men, but in the end, she ends up being kidnapped!

But Alice wasn't the type to just give up. If there was still a chance to save him, then by gone it, she was going to break free from those ropes and whisk him away like a princess from a castle. Well, without the whole getting married and have a happily ever after. That part she would skip. Unless Zeek's brownies were as amazing as he said they were. Then she might change her mind. But amazing brownies aside, she was going to survive and conquer!

Using her new found strength, Alice slowly started to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, blinded by the light coming from the large overhanging rectangular lamps from above, but soon enough her vision turned clear. She wasn't sure what time of day it was, but judging by the lack of sunlight coming in through the windows, she was confidant it was late. She was also lying on the ground, which meant she could only see certain parts of the large room. She was in a cage, made out of the same kind of wire used for batting cages. Beyond the cage was some large conveyer belt. It could have been some kind of printing press, but then again, it could have manufactured teddy bears. All large machines looked the same to Alice. Getting over the machines purpose, Alice decided to look for the source of the heavy breathing. It didn't take long for her eyes to wonder over to somebody sitting in a chair with his hands tied around the back. He was all alone in the open room, his head slouched forward. His long brown hair covered his features, but Alice knew who it was immediately. She couldn't stop the smile that crept onto her face. Zeek was alive, which meant she still had a chance to save him.

"Zeek," Her voice sounded awful. She sounded like a monster hunting down its next victim. But seeing Zeek lift his head made it all worth it.

"Little elf?" He sounded just as awful, but Alice could have sworn she heard his playful accent emerge. Even if he was on his death bed, Zeek didn't seem to have it in him to be afraid or upset. It was a bliss Alice could only wish for.

"Yeah, it's me." She almost wanted to weep. But Alice made a pact to stop the tears. She was strong. She was going to pull through with determination and leave behind the sorrow. Slowly, she tried to sit up from the ground. Luckily her hands were tied together in front of her. The thugs must have not seen her as much of a threat. Even her feet weren't tied, which meant she had the potential to kick somebody in the nuts, and she was damn sure going to use that to her advantage. She would have to get out the cage first, but she's seen enough movies to know that one good kick to the door will bust it open. Right?

"You alright little elf?" Zeek had to turn his head to the side to see her. He was facing away, which meant she only saw his profile. But when she got to see the rest of his face, she gasped. He had a shiner on his right eye and some swelling on his bottom lip. Whatever had happened to him, they hadn't been gentle about it. His black eyed looked worse the L's sleep deprived panda ones.

"Are you alright?" She directed the question at him. Not surprising to Alice, Zeek was smiling.

"I got punched in the eye man. Do you think it's going to leave a scar? I bet it looks purple now. I don't think I would want to have a purple ring around my eye for the rest of my life."

"Oh hun, I'm sure it will get better." She tried to reassure him, even though she was sure he didn't need the reassurance. He didn't look all that upset in the first place. He was smiling for heaven sakes. He looked more entertained then he did scared.

"Well what about you little elf? That bruise on your arm doesn't look good." Zeek used his head to point to her arm. At first, Alice didn't know what he was talking about, but when she looked down at her elbow, she saw a purple trail climb all the way up to her shoulder.

"Oh god! I'm turning into the purple-people-eater!" She panicked. No wonder her arm had felt like it had been ripped from her body. She must have received the bruise from being dragged into the cage.

"It's not that bad, I know a lot of purple elves." Zeek used his attempt to try and calm her down. He obviously wasn't as good at it as she was. She squeaked in utter horror.

"I don't want to be a purple elf!"

"It will be okay little elf. Like you said before, it will heal." He changed his tune. For the time being, Alice decided to just accept that statement and move on to more important topics. For example, the third member of their little party was not with them.

"Do you know what happened to Eric?"

"He got shot, didn't he?" Zeek finally sounded serious. Alice was glad to know Zeek could at least understand when to stop putting on a smile. Eric could have been dead for all she knew. She had seen so much blood. Could Eric have survived with such a great amount of blood loss?

"I don't want to believe Eric got killed. Eric wouldn't die so easily without a fight. A bullet is nothing," she told herself. She couldn't bear the thought of Eric being dead. Especially since it would have been her fault to begin with. She was the one who dragged him along to Houston under some false illusion. The guilt was already eating her alive.

"I think you're right. Casanova is going to be fine. I think we should just worry about ourselves first and try to get out of here."

"You're right." Alice finally made an attempted to stand up. The feeling in her legs had returned, so she managed to get up without much trouble. When she was on her feet, her next step was to find the door separating her from freedom. Taking a quick look at her surroundings, she grimaced at the dead rat in the corner of her cell. Out of all the animals to find, she just had to be reminded of a rat. And yet again, it was huge. Were all rats' cannibals?

"Those guys kept asking about the money." Zeek started up a conversation while she continued her scope.

"Do you know what happened to it?" Alice wondered, though she already knew his answer.

"Not a clue man. It's as if the bag just floated away. You don't think my buddy could have taken, right? I get this weird vibe that he's around and wants to say something." Zeek sounded puzzled. Alice stopped her scan momentarily to take in the theory of Doug being the thief. Would he have taken the money? But then, why would a dead man steal? It wasn't as if Doug could have used the cash. But maybe Doug took the money to help Zeek. Maybe he overheard Eric talking about getting rid of the cash so the killers wouldn't come after Zeek. But that wouldn't explain his sudden lack of attendance. She hadn't seen him for quite some time, and if he really wanted to help his friend, he would have come to her first about the plan. Thinking about it, Alice could already start to feel a headache coming on. The pain in her back wasn't helping all that much either.

"I don't know Zeek. It could be possible, but I can guarantee you now he's not with us at the moment." Alice sighed, finally locating the gate door to her left. Getting a closer look, of course it was locked with a padlock. Why would they possibly make it easy for her to escape?

"You sure little elf? I'm getting that vibe again as if I'm being watched."

Humoring him, Alice decided to look around the room for any signs of the dead. Some parts of the room were too much in shadow, so she couldn't exactly see everything, but ghosts tended to have this light within them that made them stand out. Which is why they are easier to spot at night. But there were no lights or odd emotions that she could sense. The room felt empty of life.

"I don't see anyone." She shrugged, going back to looking at the padlock. When she reached over to touch it, suddenly the dial started to spin. Alice's hand retracted back like a whip. She gasped and squealed at the same time. How could the dial start moving on its own? Was there really a spirit with them that she couldn't see? Were Zeek's instincts right? When the padlock's dial stopped, she heard a soft click, and the next thing she knew, the lock was knocked to the ground.

"No way! Did that lock just unlock itself?" Zeek was amazed. Alice didn't find the poltergeist scare as exciting. Her heart was racing, but not in a good way.

"Okay, who just did that?" Alice frantically looked around. She hoped maybe a spirit would show themselves, but sadly enough, nobody stepped up. Sometimes spirits didn't show her an appearance, but merely gave her thoughts inside her head. Even the most simplistic feelings, such as raw emotions, were easy for her to read. But the only emotion she got from the room was from Zeek; that peace of mind and soft tranquil spirit.

"Seems we have a friend on our side," Zeek smiled. Alice hoped Zeek was right. Thanking the unknown helper, Alice used her opportunity of freedom to walk out her cage and pick up the lock. No sense in leaving behind a perfectly good projectile. Stuffing it in her pocket, Alice rushed over to Zeek's side to untie him.

"Will you be able to walk?"

Zeek tried to move his legs, but his feet were tied to the chair.

"I'll have no trouble. As long as we get out of here before those guys come back, then I'm sure we'll make it out alive."

"Come back?" Alice sounded horrified. She hadn't thought of the possibility of them returning. She had been too busy with other worries. "When do you think they'll return?"

"Not sure. They talked about getting some dinner and donuts. I asked if I could have some, but they said I couldn't eat until I told them where the money was. Can you believe it? Now I'm craving crispy creams like a pregnant woman."

Alice sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead. "When did they leave?"

"I think about an hour ago."

Alice almost gagged. If they had left an hour ago, then surly they would be returning soon. Her adrenalin increased tenfold. She was untying his hands faster then before.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!" her voice went an octave higher.

"Chill little elf, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Alice wanted to believe him. She really wanted to feel as optimistic as he was, but she was a realist. Her instincts were screaming at her to get out of there before they returned.

When she got his arms free, Zeek sighed with content. He rubbed his rope burned wrists to try and relieve some of the pain.

"First a purple eye and now red wrists. I'm going to have to join the circus if this keeps up." He laughed at himself.

"Let's free your legs first, and then we'll talk about our next destination."

Zeek agreed and reached down to get his legs undone. Alice was about to help, when suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from outside the room. Alice's head snapped towards the door leading to the platform up the small set of stairs. She could feel the sweat start to trail down her neck and forehead.

"I smell donuts." Zeek's nose moved like a rabbits.

"This can't be happening!" Alice threw her hands above her head.

* * *

Watari wondered how much longer it was going to take. L had been interrogating Matt for nearly an hour. Watari had been watching them over the monitor with his handkerchief in his hand. L was telling Matt everything about Alice. About her ability to sense things and see spirits. He was telling him the experiments he conducted with her. He was starting from the very beginning of their encounter, until the very last moment where Alice had called L to tell him about Douglas. And Matt was taking in the information like a sponge. Watari had never seen Matt so concentrated before.

Near's interrogation didn't seem to go as smoothly as L's. Once in a while Near and Mello would have a serious conversation, but eventually Near would push Mello too far, and Mello would stop talking all together. As much as Watari wanted to help, he had to stay back and let Near do his job. Even if the progress was slow, at least there was improvement.

Inside of the interrogation room with Mello and Near, Mello had finally calmed down long enough for Near to talk. Near had been desperately trying to convince Mello that L wasn't out to hurt anyone except for the drug dealers. He wanted to prove to Mello that L didn't have any connection with Beyond. Just because they had looked exactly alike and shared the same mannerisms, didn't mean they had the same plot to kill. But Mello kept insisting L was hiding secrets from them, which Near knew all too well. L would never reveal anything about himself. So of course his sudden appearance to the house and taking Alice under his observation would surly catch some unwanted attention. Near could understand how Mello could come up with such a theory. To anybody else who didn't live inside the house, L would be creepy and uncomfortable to be around. If he didn't stare off into the distance or sit in chairs awkwardly, then maybe he wouldn't come off as so disturbing. But nobody could change L's habits. Not even Alice. She could probably make him look more approachable, but that would take several years of intense therapy.

"Beyond has been locked away in prison. It was L himself who incarcerated him. Wouldn't that qualify his actions to be just?"

"That or his sick need to be on top all the time," Mello continued to grumble.

"Don't you ever get tired of being angry?"

Mello kicked the leg of the table to shake it. Some of Near's tiny finger puppets were sent to the floor.

"Don't you ever get tired of being a robot?" He retaliated.

"Robot's don't get tired." Near was a bit disappointed with his toys getting dirty. Just when Mello was about to say something smart in return, the door behind Near was opened. To both their surprises, it was Matt coming in.

"We need to talk." He started right away.

"I was hoping you would be more patient." L walked in the room next, causing Mello to involuntarily try and step back. But his chains held him down.

"Ace is in trouble. I don't have time to be patient."

Having them all in the room together felt as if they were back at the Wammy house. Expect for Mello's clear hate for L.

"What the hell Matt?"

Matt crossed his arms and sighed the weight off his shoulders. It was going to be tough to explain, but he was confident he could get through his friends thick skull.

* * *

Alice frantically looked around for any sort of weapon. She still had the padlock, but her aim wasn't all that good. It also didn't help that her hands were tied together. She never got the chance to get Zeek to help her. Zeek was trying to get his feet untied, but he seemed to be struggling with the knots.

"Dude, these knots are like, boy scout worthy!"

"Can you please not complement the guy's with the guns," Alice tried to get him to be serious. He obviously didn't know his life was in danger. When the footsteps reached the door, Alice ran over to the shadows to hide. She did feel guilty about leaving behind Zeek, but she had a feeling he would be just fine. He was the kind of guy who would pulled through any scenario, even if that scenario had bad guys with guns.

Seconds after she was behind the machine, the door opened up. The two thugs entered the room with a white box. Judging by the way Zeek stopped trying to escape and was sniffing the air, the box must have had donuts.

"And then the guy said to me, 'you ain't got no balls'. So I shot his and told him the same thing," The Italian thug started to laugh. His accent almost seemed like it was getting thicker. The fact that it was nasally made it even sound worse. But as much as the skinny one was laughing, it didn't seem his so called _friend_ found it funny. In fact, Alice couldn't even imagine the muscle man laughing. He also wasn't much of a talker. In response to his buddies' joke, he grunted.

Keeping her distance, Alice reached in her pocket, ready to try her hand at throwing. She could try to hit the big one, but she had a feeling that wouldn't do much. So taking out the small one first would at least give her some time to think up another plan.

"What's this now?" The Italian noticed Zeek. Zeek waved to them as if their encounter were a friendly greeting. Alice pinched the bridge of her nose.

"How was dinner?"

Alice was ready to aim her weapon at Zeek. Why did he have to be so friendly?

"You making fun of me? Why are your hands untied?" the Italian started to walk closer to inspect. But he was stopped by his muscle friend. When the Italian turned around to find out what was wrong, the muscle man pointed over to her empty cage and grunted. Alice was a bit disappointed that he didn't say anything. Apparently her escape only qualified for yet another grunt.

"Where's the dame?" The Italian threw around his arms, letting the box fall to the ground. He used his hands as if they were his second mouth. She wondered if it was an Italian thing. "You!" The guy turned back to Zeek. "You better start talkin!"

"I don't know where she went. She ran off while I was trying to untie my feet." Zeek was honest. Zeek probably didn't even know how to lie. Alice could always count on Zeek to speak the truth, even if his life was being threatened. L would never approve. Zeek would make a horrible detective.

"You think you're a funny man?" The Italian took his honesty as a joke.

"Humor helps the soul grow man." Zeek gave his wise insight. It wasn't the time or place to do so, but Zeek seemed to think otherwise. Now Alice wondered how much it would hurt Zeek if she aimed for his head.

"That's it you little punk. Hammer, pick him up!"

And Hammer obeyed. Hammer decided to grab the chair by it back legs, and lift Zeek up in the air until Zeek was hanging upside-down, held only by the ropes tied to his feet. It was a good thing those bad guys had so called 'Boy Scout skills' when it came to tying knots. Otherwise, Zeek would be on the floor with his head cracked open.

"OH man! The world is upside down!" Zeek actually sounded startled. Alice was proud, but only for a moment.

"Where is she?" The nasally Italian growled. Seeing him in danger, Alice knew she had to step in.

"Right here dick face!" Alice sprang out from behind the machine with the padlock in her hands. Even with her hands tied together, she managed to chuck the heavy lock forward, and hit right on target. The lock hit the Italian in the gut, sending him doubled over and groaning out in pain.

"Good throw!" Zeek praised her, but his excitement wouldn't last long. Hammer decided he too would throw something, so Zeek was tossed at Alice to try and knock her down. Alice gasped sharply and dived out of the way before Zeek could hit her. Unfortunately for Zeek, he hit the wall. The chair did not make for a good landing, and Alice winced when she saw poor Zeek crash to the floor.

"Zeek!" She shouted, running over to his limp body. Alice thought the worst. He could have broken his neck or spine. Or worse, he could have split his head open.

"Wow man, the world is spinning. Since when do you have a twin?" Zeek mumbled with his head moving back and forth. Alice was right over him, thankful to know he was talking to her.

"Stay with me Zeek." She urged, knowing he probably suffered some sort of concussion. The last thing she wanted was for him to pass out. She wouldn't have the strength to carry him.

"You little bitch!" The Italian sneered as he tried to get up. Alice scrambled to get Zeek to sit up. Hammer started to trudge towards them; his arms were slightly pulled away from his body because his muscles were too big. Noticing that she wasn't getting anywhere with Zeek, Alice made an effort to stand up and look tough instead.

"Bring it on tubby," She moved her fingers to beckon him to come closer. His grunt turned into a deep growl. Alice even saw his lip curl. It caused a shiver to run down her spine. The man was a monster! When he reached down to grab her, she quickly stepped on his foot with all the power she could produce. If only she had been wearing her four inch heels. But once again, the man felt no pain. He merely gave her another grunt and reach for her again. Alice screamed bloody murder and ducked under him to get away. Luckily she was fast enough to avoid his arm swinging behind him. He thought he could have caught her off guard, but she was too fast.

"Stop running away!" The Italian stepped in front of her path. She screamed again and kicked her foot forward with her eyes shut tight. The next thing she heard was his painful cry. It sounded like a chipmunk was being run over by a car. Opening up one eye cautiously, she saw the guy holding his crotch painfully. He was sinking to the ground again, only this time he was doing so more slowly. It wasn't long before he was in the fetal position, whimpering in pain. Alice was in awe of her own abilities. She had made the promise earlier to kick somebody in the balls, but who knew she had the _cojones_ to actually do it. She was so proud of herself, she was even smiling from ear to ear.

"HA!" She pointed at the man. Hammer watched his pathetic friend on the ground and grunted. It must have been some sort of insult, because Italian told Hammer to shut up.

"Get her!" Italian cried out painfully. Hummer grunted a yes and came after her again. Alice dashed away towards her cage to see if she could find something else to throw. She could have tried for the dead rat, but the thought of touching it made her want to gag. Even if her life was facing death in the face, she would never touch a dead rat. So she opted out for the next best thing; a small box full of what appeared to be promotional buttons. There were a verity, but it was obvious they were promoting kids cartoons, such as SpongeBob or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Hearing Hammer's grunts get closer, she didn't think twice about throwing the entire box at him. Hammer took the box to his chest like a champ. The button's spilled to the floor like a waterfall. It sounded like shatter glass. Alice couldn't believe her ears next when she heard Hammer grunt out in pain. At least, she hoped it was a painful grunt. One of the buttons had been unhooked, so it found its way onto Hammers arm, clasping onto his skin with a picture of Hello kitty holding a pink flower. He gave her a glare so sinister; she thought she would wet her pants. He ripped the button off his arm without even a grimace. A little trickle of blood came out, but nothing that would stop him from continuing his advance.

"Don't you come near me!" Alice started to panic. She was running out of ideas. She couldn't run forever, and she couldn't escape without Zeek. Hammer plowed through the sea of buttons as if he were stepping on ants. Alice started to run to the right, but Hammer reached her in time to grab her arm. She cried out in pain since it was the arm that was bruised. Alice never felt so much intense pain in her life. Her whole body screamed in agony. There were even flashes of light that clouded her eyesight. "Let me go!" She screamed with tears ready to spill onto her cheeks. Hammer only squeezed harder, causing the pain to get worse. His grunt of satisfaction made Alice want to punch his face. If she had the power too, she would even try to break his nose. But he overpowered her to the point where she was almost on her knees.

Hammer started to pull her towards the cage. He was going to put her back in there, and she didn't want to go. She tried with all her might to get away, but his strength was ridiculous. Just when she thought the pain was going to make her pass out, his gripped loosened, and she was able to pull free. She stumbled back and fell down on her butt. She wasn't expecting to be freed so easily, but the sound of the grunts she heard next did not match the one's Hammer made. She looked up and was flabbergasted to see Mello in a fight with muscles. He had come out of nowhere and was trying to get a good shot at the muscles man's face. Unfortunately Mello was a bit shorter and clearly not as big as the walking tank. So it wasn't long before Mello was trapped in a choke hold. Luckily he got one of his arms to block his throat from being restricted, but he wasn't powerful enough to use any of the tactics that could set him free.

"Mello?" Alice finally said something.

"Grab his gun!" Mello choked out with the limited air he could obtain. Alice didn't know what he was talking about, until she saw the black semi-automatic pistol several feet away from them. Mello must have disarmed Hammer when she wasn't paying attention. She had to take a double take just to see if her eyes were fooling her. "ACE! HURRY!" Mello got impatient. Alice shook herself out of her trance and raced over to the gun. She had never held a gun in her life, let alone seen one up close. The only time she's seen guns were in movies or TV shows. Not sure about what to do, she picked it up as if it carried some sort of disease.

"Shoot him!" Mello ordered next. That made Alice's face turn from scared to utter disbelief.

"You want me to what?" She gave Mello a look.

"SHOOT HIM!" He made himself loud and clear, which was actually pretty difficult for him, seeing as how he was trying to stop an elephant from crushing his throat.

"I don't know how to shoot!" Alice panicked.

"AIM AND PULL THE TRIGGER!"

"Oh lord," Alice started to hyperventilate. She knew she couldn't keep fighting about it, so she grabbed the gun with both hands, much like the cops do on TV, and tried to aim. It didn't help that her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She was also deathly afraid of what she might hit with the bullets. If she missed, then it would be her fault Mello ends up dead. "I can't do this." She started to shake her head. The struggle for Mello only seemed like it was getting worse.

"Shoot him Ace! Stop crying like a baby!"

That set Alice off.

"Hey! You're the piece of shit that called me a liar! Maybe my crazy ass should shoot you instead!"

"I came here to save you! Don't you start threatening me with a gun!"

"I don't need your help! I can save myself!"

"If you think you can save yourself, then why don't you start shooting the bad guys! The one trying to kill me would be a good start!"

Alice licked her lips and aimed once more. She would show Mello that she could handle anything. Firing a gun couldn't be that hard. They did it in the movies all the time. What did she have to worry about? Even if she shot Mello, by that point it would probably be a bonus. Closing one eye, she focused on a target. She aimed for his leg, which she hoped would be an easy shot.

"SHOOT!"

Alice pulled the trigger, and an ear shatter crack/pop made her flinch with her aim. She didn't expect the sound of the gun to be so loud. The next scream came from the man Alice had hoped to hit, only she didn't exactly shoot the target she wanted. Muscle man cried out in agony as he hopped on one foot. His other one was dripping blood onto the cement.

"You shot my foot you bitch!" Alice was shocked to hear him talk. She didn't even know he could. Seizing the opportunity, Mello used his free elbow to jab Hammer in the gut. It worked sense Hammer gasped out in pain. Alice was impressed. Hammer was a brick wall, which meant Mello had to have some serious strength. When Hammer was doubled over grabbing his stomach, Mello used his elbow again, and smashed it over the back of Hammer's head. Hammer crashed to the floor in an unconscious state. Mello had hit him with perfect aim, probably giving him a concussion along the way. After he was free from danger, Mello took his time catch his breath.

"Took you long enough," Mello gasped between each word.

"I still have the gun Mello, so then next words out of your mouth better be an apology."

Mello looked away and glared into the unknown. He was being stubborn, and Alice didn't have the patients to deal with him anymore.

"You know what? Never mind. Just forget it." She put the gun on the ground. She didn't feel safe holding it. "I'll thank you for taking out Mr. muscle here, but I don't need your help anymore. I'll just take Zeek and go."

"Wait!" Mello stopped her. For a moment he looked like he was going to apologize, but the pain of apologizing stopped him before he could say anything. Alice wondered how hard it was for Mello to even admit he was wrong. Throwing her arms up in the air, she scoffed at him.

"I'm tired of arguing Mello!"

"Just shut up and listen then!" Mello stepped forward. Alice gave him a fierce look. "For the time being, L and I have come to a truce. What I said to you in the desert was…wrong." The last word made Mello grimace. Alice was all ears. This would go under the record of Mello's first time ever admitting he was in the wrong. Alice wanted to make sure she soaked in all the glory. "So if you promise to listen to me and follow my orders to get out of here, then I promise to listen to what you have to say when we reach our safe house."

The compromise was tempting. It wasn't often Mello even compromised, so she had to see if she could sweeten the deal. She crossed her arms and gave him a once over with her eyes.

"Alight, I'll agree, but under one condition."

"What's that?" Mello arched an eyebrow.

"We have to save Zeek too, and find Eric,"

"Eric is already in the hospital."

"Really? Is he okay? He's not going to die is he?"

"He's doing just fine." Mello sighed. Alice was comforted by the thought of Eric being taken care of. She had thought he would still be lying on the ground somewhere slowly bleeding to death. But instead, he was in safe hands and alive to see another day. She could almost kiss Mello, she was so happy. But she wasn't ever going to get close to Mello again until she knew exactly what was going on with her little family. Maybe after she reached freedom, she would be given the answers she been wanting since the very beginning of Mello's and Matt's odd behavior.

"Good, then we just have to save Zeek." Alice pointed her thumb towards the wall where Zeek was resting against.

"Fine, let's just go!" Mello rolled his eyes. Putting his finger to his ear, he started to talk to himself. Or at least, that's what it looked like to Alice. "I got her. Drive the car around back and meet me at the second lamp post. Make sure my path is clear and report to me about any heat signatures you pick up on your radar." He kept silent for a few seconds, and then gave the okay that he would start his job. He grabbed the gun off the floor and gave it a once over before he stuffed it into the back of his pants and covered it with his shirt. "Let's move," He started towards Zeek. Alice coughed to get his attention. When he turned around, he saw her hold up her hands and tap her foot. They were still tied together, and she wanted the ability to use her arms. Mello rolled his eyes again, and helped her out of the ropes. When she was free, she rubbed her wrists. She was surprised to still see her charm bracelet Tinker and Henchman gave her. She had thought maybe the thugs would have taken it from her. A smile crept onto her face.

"Looks like I still have my chance to be useful."

"What are you mumbling about?" Mello was already walking further away. Alice told him it was nothing and joined him to help Zeek off the ground.

"Zeek," She hit him on the face lightly to get him to focus. "Can you hear me?"

"My ears work fine little elf, but my head sure feels like a cannon went off inside my brain." He held his forehead with one hand.

"There's no time to mope about. We got to get moving."

"You ain't going nowhere!" the familiar sound of Italian's nasally voice caught their attention. Alice gasped when she saw he was standing up with his gun pointed straight at them. He had a twisted smile on his face, as if he found the thought of them all dead in a pool of blood to be hilarious. Alice reached for her bracelet, thinking maybe one of the charms could help her. But Mello's lightning fast reflexes beat her to the punch. In a matter of seconds, Mello pulled out the pistol from behind his shirt and fired off a round, making Alice cover her ears.

"ARRGGHHH!" the Italian screamed out in pain. "You shot my leg you asshole!"

Mello didn't waste a second to fire off another round, this time hitting the gun right out of the hitman's hand.

"SON OF A BITCH!" the thug cried out while holding his bleeding hand close to his body.

"Get down on the ground before I aim for your head," Mello sounded serious. Alice had never seen him like that before. He looked like he was in his element.

"You ain't going to get away with this! They'll come and find yeah!" the thug said while getting on the ground. Somehow his threats didn't seem so scary when he was lying down and bleeding. Shrugging off the sad attempt to scare her, Alice pulled Zeek off the ground and gave him one of her shoulders to lean on. Mello kept his gun aimed at the thug on the ground while he led Alice towards the steps.

"Matt's outside with the mustang. We should hurry." Mello gave her a heads up. Alice was grateful for his help, and she hoped the safe house Mello talked about had L waiting for her. She still had a bad taste in her mouth after talking with L, and she wanted nothing more than to say she was sorry. Hell, if Mello could admit he was wrong, then Alice could. She just wanted to have her family back together again.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**blackstar778, Cretha Loesing, torixx3 **(Thank you for the correction! I fixed it right away.)**, Ironicsheep, KiyUzumaki, ****wolf neko**, **nadzuke eno mono**, **Angel Ayame**, **Crazyinabottle**, **xGrellSutcliffx**, **I Am Pandora**, **XBloodMageRikaX**, **chabitso.0**, **Kira Kiwaseki**, **Karen**, and **Sofia10Soccer**. (The joy I am feeling right now does not compare to anything I have felt before. Not even my first bite of watermelon compares! You guys have made me so happy! When I come back from Floria, I'll bring you all a souvenir!)**  
**

**hello-totoro-ninja: **Ruby's daughter is first introduced in chapter 25, and you can read about her again in my Halloween chapter. =)**  
**

**Yumeno: **The recipe was wonderful! I haven't made it yet, but I plan on making it for an upcoming birthday. It doesn't look difficult to make and I can't wait to taste it! Also, thank you again for such lovely complements. I'm so happy that you're enjoying my story! I hope this chapter redeemed my missed comedy. =D**  
**

**Invincible Shadow: **Ah wingless! I didn't think about that. Wind obviously makes more sense. Mello is a tough egg to crack, so who knows if he'll ever look at Near as a normal human being. But I had to make Matt as epic as possible. He never got to show off in the anime or manga, so I thought he deserved to do so in my story =). And I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a riddle master, but I'm flatter you think I have such abilities. So I will try out your next riddle with all the brain power I can muster! Here I go! *Turns on brain* It's purchasable, so its some sort of product...turning red could be a light of some sort. Like a flashlight...but that wouldn't turn gray when you throw it away. And throwing away a flashlight would be a waste. So the product would have to turn into trash if it would be worth throwing away. But I can't think of anything that makes sense...my brain doesn't seem to be fully charged at the moment, so your going to have to tell me the answer. **  
**

**Sara and Kisa: **Putting light in the story wouldn't make much sense for the timeline I have created (forgive me). In the heading of my 7th chapter I talk about not ever going into the actual Death Note storyline because I didn't want everyone to die. "You could have made the story in a way so they don't" you say, but I liked the setting of the Wammy house too much. If I were to attempt to put Light in the story, then he would already be considered going to collage. Now that's not to say I could make something up for his role as Kira, but I'm already getting close to the end of this story, which would mean Kira would have to be in some sort of sequel. I haven't gotten to that stage yet, since I'm horrible at making two stories at once. So I promise to think about it for the future, but at the moment, my goal is to complete this story. By the way, I don't want to sound creepy, but you guys are adorable! I love that you both review with each other! I can't wait to hear from you again! (Unless I just scared you off, then I'm sorry...) **  
**

**Speckles719: **Yeah, it's always the homemade crusts that get me. I could never make it the way the pictures look. If fact, they always turn out as if a monster is trying to rip its way out of the pie...it's quite horrifying really. Thank you so much for your review! I promise Mello wont try to kill any more babies.**  
**

**g-minor-art: **You are too kind! You really have made my day! I can't thank you enough for believing in me! But publishing this story seems like a long shot. I'm really grateful you like it so much, but I'm still practicing my writing. I know I still need improvement, which is why I continue to write. But I'm sure someday I could possibly publish something. xD You got to 100 degree weather? Good lord! The hottest it's gotten for me is like 80, and I thought I was going to boil to death! How did you survive?

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **OK! wow! My dirty mind went past the gutters and into the sewers. You honestly don't want to know my answer...I'm sure the actually answer isn't as bad, but I don't think I'll be able to stay rational about it and give you a clean response. It's probably best if you just told me. xD**  
**


	48. The Great Escape

I'M BACK!

Woo~!

*Does the twist*

I'm sure my dancing would look better if I had hips like _Shakira_ (And her ability to dance...).

But alas, I'm pasty white and have no sense of what's it's like to be graceful.

Wait,...

Scratch that.

I got a sunburned on the beach, so I'm half pasty white and half apple red...

I'm a candy cane!

...Enjoy the chapter =_=

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note! Candy canes can't own Death Note...*snickers*, they're inanimate objects used to decorate Christmas trees and shut children up when they cry.)_

* * *

**The Great Escape  
**

There were many obstacles Alice had to face in life, such as finding out she couldn't eat the macaroni after it was glued to the paper to make the macaroni art, or the time she became a woman and thought she was going to die from losing so much blood. But, growing up exposed her to the wonders of fashion and friendship. Sure most of the friends she grew up with were either hired help or six feet under the ground, but she never once complained. Complaining wasn't going to get her anywhere anyway. Only action spoke louder than words, so when she ran away to join the Wammy House, she didn't imagine her exposure to life would expand and become more complicated. Instead of worrying about what outfit to wear for the morning, or if she had enough tampons for the days' worth of blood she would lose, she had to worry about escaping a warehouse full of drug dealers with guns. Wasn't her life complicated enough with the whole "seeing dead people" complex?

"Stay behind me!" Mello ordered her as they rounded a corner. He had his (the muscle man's) gun pointed in front of him, ready to fire at any sign of danger.

"I'm carrying at least 150 pounds worth of person right now, so could you slow down?" Alice groaned under the weight of Zeek. He was using her shoulder to stand up, so running meant a fast pace walk.

"Sorry little elf,"

Mello rolled his eyes.

"Suck it up Ace. If you want to get out of here alive, then I suggest moving faster."

"Why don't you turn around and tell me that to my face! It would make it easier to kick you in the balls if you were facing me!"

Mello didn't justify her with a response. Instead, he slowed down to stop at a door. He pressed his back against the wall, and motioned for her to do the same. Rolling her eyes this time, she helped Zeek lean up against the wall. That at least gave her some relief from carrying him. When they were all in position, Mello momentarily paused to listen for any sounds of movement. He obviously knew what he was doing, since he was taking in every part of his surroundings. Alice would never be able to focus like Mello. The second something shiny walks by, she would be off in her own little wonderland of a brain. She assumed Zeek would be the same way. Even at the moment he looked to be off in his own world. He was staring into space with an odd smile. Alice wished she could be as relaxed as he was.

After what seemed like forever, Mello finally reached for the handle. Alice was anxious to see what was in the next room. Mello was going far too slow. She felt like she needed to start running just to release the ball of adrenaline inside of her. When Mello pulled his hand back, Alice let out an exasperated sigh. The sigh was loud enough for Mello to want to turn around and give her the evil eye. Apparently she wasn't supposed to make a sound.

"Dude, my nose is picking up on some Chinese. I smell sweet and sour sauce." Zeek spoke out of the blue. Mello started to turn red. He so desperately wanted to shout, but he knew better then to give away their location. So instead, he used his finger to his lips to show Zeek he needed to shut up. His point got across when his used his middle finger. Instead of getting offended, Zeek just gave him a thumbs up. Alice was starting to enjoy the odd relationship between the two.

Getting back to business, Mello waved for them to follow. They walked past the door and headed further down the dirt clogged hall. The walls looked like they could use a good scrub, and the floors had trash pushed to either side. It didn't exactly smell like a flower garden. Alice was a bit disappointed they didn't go in the door. She bet the room wouldn't have smelled as bad as the hallway. But Mello continued to guide them despite the rancid smell.

Alice could start to feel the muscles in her legs complain. The bruise trailing up her arm was starting to throb and every step she took made it harder for her to catch her breath. She obviously needed to work out more if she was getting winded so quickly. Mello didn't seem to care about either of their conditions. As long as he got them both out alive, then he was doing his job. Not being able to take much more, Alice had to stop for a moment to take a breather. Mello noticed their sudden stop and got angry.

"We can't stop here," he spoke quietly, though there was enough hiss behind it to make him sound venomous. Alice couldn't have cared less. She needed a break, and that was that.

"I'm going to collapse from exhaustion, so you better give me a second to compose myself."

Mello looked like he was about to respond, but he shut his mouth instead and turned away. Looks like she got her wish; she victoriously smiled for a fraction of a second, and then went back to taking in deep breaths.

Instead of grumbling and tapping his foot like she thought Mello would, he used the brief timeout to talk with Matt. Alice finally got to see the little ear piece Mello had been utilizing when he turned to the side.

"It's going to take longer than expected. One of them suffered a head injury, and is unable to move on their own."

Alice watched Mello's neutral expression go from calm, to a painful grimace. Apparently someone on the other end was giving him a mouth full. Mello looked as if he just tasted something spoiled.

"Calm down! Did I ever say it was Ace who got hurt?" Mello responded with annoyance. Alice's curiosity started to grow. Mello ignored her stare and continued to speak. "Yeah, Yeah. I got it. As long as you do your job right."

When Mello was finally done talking, he turned around to find Alice and Zeek giving him a stare that clearly stated they wanted to know what was going on. Mello's frown deepened.

"Stop giving me those stupid looks and let's get going."

"Were you talking to Matt?"

"Did I stutter? I said let's go!" Mello ignored her question. Alice didn't get a chance to speak. Mello was already on the move once again, leaving Alice to carry Zeek. For a moment, Alice wondered if there was a button on one of her charms that would electrocute Mello. That would have made her day all the more special.

Mello's pace was steady and poised. He was walking down the hall as if he grew up in the warehouse. He seemed to know every corner and door they passed by. Unlike Alice would limped with Zeek on her good shoulder. She felt like Quasimodo with a blonde wig. By the ten minute mark, Alice was ready to throw in the towel. How big was the warehouse anyway? Why hadn't they found an exit yet? Upon her distraction, Mello gave her shock she wasn't expecting. When they rounded the next corner, he immediately opened up a door and pulled them both inside the dark room. The room had a desk and rows of metal filing cabinets. Papers were scattered around the room as if somebody had tossed them around in a fit of rage. The door was shut behind them, and Alice and Zeek tripped over themselves, landing on the cold hard cement floor. Unfortunately for Zeek, Alice landed on top of him.

"Ugh…," Alice groaned, trying to push herself up.

"No offense little elf, but you're pretty heavy." Zeek felt the pain too. Having Alice crush him didn't exactly help his damaged condition.

"I'm sorry," Alice took little offense. All she really wanted to do was sit and relax without the worry of being shot or mangled to death. Maybe she could call upon a ghost to help her out, or she could try one of the charms out to see if one of them could teleport her out of there. Tinker was smart enough to make one of those, right?

"Will you two stop messing around," Mello got angry as he grabbed the back of Alice's shirt. With one good tug, he pulled Alice up and off Zeek. Alice squeaked as she was steadied onto her feet. She gave Mello a glare in which he ignored completely. He was in charge, and there was nothing Alice could do to intimidate him. Blowing a piece of her hair off her face, she reached down to help Zeek up.

"You okay?" She asked him as she steadied him to his feet. He smiled of course and nodded his head. She didn't get much of a chance to feel relieved, because Mello was shushing them both before they could continue their conversation. Alice wasn't sure what was going on until she heard the footsteps from outside the door. Mello was up against the wall once again with his gun ready to fire. Alice's heart started to pound in her chest. She helped Zeek to the wall near Mello, knowing that she would be safe next to him. Mello was the one with the gun, and he was her only hope to not get shot.

The footsteps seemed like they would go on forever. Alice could feel her heartbeat in her hands, pulsing as she held tight onto Zeek's shirt. Zeek was thankful it wasn't his skin she was holding onto; otherwise he would lose a big chunk of it. But what scared Alice the most were not the footsteps, but the silence that followed them. It was so quiet, that she could even hear Mello's breathing. She hated the silence. Somebody screaming would at least give her mind something to think about, rather than being stuck to imagine her death over and over again.

Luckily the silence was broken by Mello after what seemed like a lifetime.

"We need to get to the back storage room. Matt will be just outside. Keep quiet and stay behind me."

Nodding her head, Alice followed Mello out the office as soon as the footsteps were gone. When they were back in the hallway, she was relieved to see nobody was there. Mello must have been getting reports of which areas were safe to go, because she wouldn't have known somebody was coming without Mello hiding her in that room. She was thankful Mello had the technology to keep them safe, even if he was rough with her about it. When he had grabbed her, he had seized her bruised arm. So the pain only seemed like it was getting worse.

"This way," Mello waved to them. Alice was right behind, once in a while looking behind her just in case those footsteps would return. As she continued to carry Zeek, she noticed Mello start to slow down. Again, she grew anxious. They were taking too long to get to this so called 'storage room'. Why couldn't they just run for it? Why did they have to sneak around? "Shit!" Mello cursed. That wasn't a good sign. Mello turned around at a surprising speed, and ran behind her and Zeek with his gun pointing down the hall. "Ace! Run until you reach the double metal doors! That will be the storage room!" Mello's voice picked up, making it echo off the walls. Alice felt as if her heart were traveling up her throat. She felt sick to her stomach. What was Mello talking about? There was nobody…

"Hurry up! They're getting away!" A voice carried from down the hall. Alice's face drained of blood, turning a translucent white. They were being followed, and by the sounds of multiple boots hitting the cement, she could tell there were a lot of them and they were closing in.

"Ace move!" Mello ordered again, getting her to snap out of her frozen fear. Using her built up adrenaline; she utilized her strength to carry Zeek. Luckily she was getting better about distributing his weight on her shoulder so they could walk faster. She didn't dare look behind her, in fear of seeing somebody get shot. It was bad enough she's already witnessed it four times in one day. She could only withstand seeing blood for so long before she would give up her lunch. By the time they limped a good five minutes through some twists and turns, that's when she heard the sound of gunfire. Alice screamed, making her ears pop. Zeek tried to cover up his ears, but he only had one usable hand. They both had to stop and wait for the gunfire to cease. The sound was so deafening, that they couldn't even move. When it seemed like it was over, Alice forced Zeek to continue on. She didn't want to waste the moment of silence by cowering. She also didn't want the gunmen to catch up to them.

"This is bad little elf," Zeek was getting worried. They both could hear the fight getting closer. They didn't dare go look around the corner in fears of a bullet hitting them. The protection of the walls were all they had, along with Mello whom she hoped was still alive. They had left him to the mob of potentially armed bad guys, and she was realizing what the consequences could have been. Mello could have died. The thought of his death almost got her choked up. He wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed, right?

"This is very bad." Alice agreed with Zeek. She had to try and think of something else; otherwise she would probably break down crying. As they continued down the hall in hopes of finding the metal doors, out of the corner of her eye, Alice could have sworn she saw a shadow move. They were passing by a door with a small window, and inside the room, Alice thought she saw a man. Zeek almost tripped over her after she stopped abruptly to look through the window.

"What is it little elf?"

"I thought I just saw…"

Alice was cut off by the echo of something crashing down the hall. It almost sounded like a trash can was thrown to the ground, and pieces of glass and paper were scattered to the floor. After the crash, Alice heard a good sized group of men cry out in pain. A few rounds were fired off, and the stomps of somebody's boots were coming their way. Alice started to hyperventilate. She wasn't sure who made it out alive or what had happened to all those men, but she sure didn't want to stick around to find out. She was just about to keep running down the hall, when a hand stopped her. At first she thought it was Zeek's, thinking maybe he had something to tell her. But when she noticed the hand was coming through the door, all of her sense of reality seemed to die around her. The hand was beckoning to her with their finger, telling her to come into the room. There were many creepy ghosts she's encountered through her lifetime, but a hand was probably topping the charts. Alice almost felt like she wanted to faint. Why was a hand telling her to go in the room?

"Little elf?" Zeek noticed her pale completion.

"Hand," was all Alice could say. It seemed the longer she stood in front of it, the more vigorous the hand gesticulated. It really wanted her to go in the room, but her feet refused to move.

"Hand?" Zeek looked at his own in wonder.

"You two should be running!" Mello came bolting around the corner. Alice was shocked out of her trance. Mello looked out of breath, as if he just ran a marathon. There was sweat clinging to his neck and shoulders. His eyes were wild with adrenalin.

"Child…" A whisper entered Alice's eardrum. She gasped at how sweet the voice tickled her ears. It was a voice she recognized immediately and welcomed with all her heart. A voice she trusted with her life. And there was no doubt in her mind that this voice was trying to help her in the right direction. Without even a second thought, she reached for the door handle.

"ACE!" Mello grabbed her hand before she touched the knob. Her euphoria was snatched away.

"Mello!" She yelled at him angrily.

"We need to go to the storage room!"

"No, we have to go in here!" She was sure of herself. The voice would never steer her wrong.

"Are you an idiot? We have to go meet Matt!"

"Trust me Mello!" She looked him in the eyes. Her gaze held strong, not a flinch or a shudder. Mello was dumbfounded. What was he supposed to do when she acted like this? It was the face of unadulterated determination, and there wasn't anything Mello could have said or done to change her mind. He absolutely hated when she got that look.

"Fine! Just go!" Mello threw his arms up in defeat. He promised himself he wouldn't fight with her anymore. He would just have to think of a new plan to get her out. Alice smiled, reaching for the knob once again. She didn't think Mello would have given in so easily, but he was truly turning over a new leaf. He trusted her; which was much better than before when he thought she was a crazy nut job liar. Knowing she won his trust, Alice was now more than ever, determined to prove her decision to be a good one. Surly the voice was leading her to safety.

"Cool man, another machine!" Zeek was in awe of the large mechanical conveyer belt. Upon entering the room, Alice had expected to see a door to the outside along with a glowing light to guide her. Instead, they were smothered in a layer of dust and shrouded by the darkness of the shadows. The only light in the room was the moon from outside, coming in through the wall of windows over by the end of where the machine was cut off. It looked as if it got ripped in half. Wires were hanging out, and the belt itself seemed to stop in mid air. There was no exit except for the door they came through. They were all trapped inside with nowhere to go.

"Ah Come on!" Alice threw up her arms in a fit of rage. That was the last time she would trust a ghost hand on a door. Mello didn't seem to mind the change of plans. He was too busy coming up with a new one to care if Alice led him to a dead end. His first step was to get those two hidden, and lucky enough, there was room among the shadows to shield them away from eyesight.

"Forget about it Ace, just hide behind the machine and wait for my signal."

"But what about you?" Alice asked as Zeek dragged her toward the conveyer belt. He didn't seem to mind the order Mello gave them. She wasn't sure where Zeek got the strength from, but she was glad to know he was feeling better.

To answer Alice's question, Mello pulled the top portion of the pistol back to reload the gun's ammo. With a soft click, the gun was ready to for some bloody action.

"I can handle these guys." He shrugged, as if he were talking about catching butterflies. He wasn't scared to die, and he knew exactly what to do in a shoot off, unlike Alice who couldn't even hit a leg of a 300 pound muscle monster. His thigh had to have been as big as her head, and yet she shot his foot. What shame!

"Are you sure?" Alice's voice had to be carried over 2,000 tons of steel and metal. Zeek had managed to get her behind the machine in time, before the bad guys showed up. The only visual she had of Mello was through some piping. They were crossing over each other in a mix of silver and bronze. But between the pipes, Alice could make out Mello's form.

"Don't move and don't make a sound!" Mello ordered, making his way to hid behind a part of the machine. He chose a spot that was lower to the ground and easier for him to crouch behind and aim. He had a clear shot at the door, and all he had to do was wait for his victims to enter. Alice felt much better with the protection of the conveyer belt. Both she and Mello would be safe as long as they had some sort of shield. She was starting to appreciate Mello a little more for his brains. He was smart after all, even though most of the time he didn't show it.

"I heard him go in here!" A voice from outside caught her attention. Alice watched the group of shadows form around the little window on the door. They blocked the light from the hall, and caused Alice to hold her breath. She could start to feel her hands shake. Her charm bracelet rattled under the vibrations of her shivers. She looked down at the charms in wonder, dodging from right to left with her eyes at the black and white chess pieces. Tinker and Henchman had made the bracelet for her. They outfitted it with numerous gadgets and gizmos. If only she knew what each piece did. If only she called Tinker and asked about her bracelet. Then maybe she could be useful and help Mello. But each charm could be a ticking time bomb. It was bad enough she set a teddy bear ablaze. She couldn't stomach the thought of blowing up any of her friends.

But then again, what if she could blow a hole in the wall so they could escape? She already accomplished that in Tinker's and Mello's room, so what was stopping her from repeating the same action with the wall behind them. The only obstacle they had was a wall separating them from freedom, so what would be the harm in trying out one of the charms. Anyway, Tinker would never wirelessly assemble a system that would harm any of her friends or family; even if Mello was the biggest ass in the whole wide world.

"The knight then," Alice made up her mind. She needed a knight in shining armor to save her, and of course the white knight made a perfect symbol for the situation she was in. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed hold of the white knight chess piece and started a small prayer. The door to the room was busted open the moment she pressed down on the button.

* * *

L picked the strawberries on his plate. His eyes were focused on the screen in front of him. He had been monitoring Mello's escape from the very beginning, informing him of any heat signatures on the thermal cameras. That way he could avoid running into trouble while he helped Alice and Zeek escape. The plan had been working up until they were discovered missing. That's when all hell broke loose. Luckily Mello was trained in close combat. If there was anybody L could trust to protect Alice, it was Mello. And with the help of his advice on where the assailants were coming from, Mello could easily counterattack.

"There are five just out the door." He informed Mello who was already in position behind the conveyer belt. Near was on the floor just below L, having his own laptop to observe. It was his job to keep Matt updated since Mello was preoccupied.

"Change routes; follow the grid toward the lot in the back." Near gave his next order.

Ever since they made an agreement, L felt better about the prospect of his successors. Sure, there were still a few problems here and there, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a delectable piece of cake. L was lucky enough to have Watari as a pastry chef.

"The door," Near pointed to his screen. L already knew the ciaos that was about to break out. As long as Alice stayed hidden, then he was sure she would make it out just…

_POP *SSSSTTTTTZZZZZ* _

It sounded as if air was being pumped into a balloon. It was quiet at first, but only continued to get louder with each passing second. Near and L stopped their work to look behind them. They had chosen to return to one of the hotel rooms, so they had two queen size beds behind them. But it wasn't the mattresses that were inflating. Nor was the sound coming from any of the light fixtures or dressers. Surprisingly it was coming from the small yellow raft that was gradually inflating in front of their eyes. It started from the corner of the room where all the luggage was being held, and expanded out until it completely took over one of the queen size beds. When the air finally stopped pumping into the boat, the room went back to it quiet state.

For a good few seconds, Near and L were speechless, trying to process how an inflatable boat could have come about. But the intrigue wasn't strong enough to keep them away from their work. So they turned back around and refocused on their jobs.

"How odd," was Near's only comment.

"Indeed."

* * *

"Damnit! Nothing!" Alice tried the button a couple times. But to her dismay, nothing seemed to happen. It was a dud. Groaning angrily, she gave up on the white knight, and decided to try a different piece.

Mello on the other hand was busy trying to avoid the bullets. There were about five guys in the room, hiding in some of the few places they could get behind. Amazingly Mello had perfect aim, so when the first two men entered the room, they were shot clean threw the heart. Alice wasn't sure if they were considered dead, but the pool of blood under them gave her a secure hunch. She didn't dare look at Zeek in fears she might throw up on him. He was quiet anyway, and she assumed he was probably just as nauseated as she was.

But amongst the bullets and shouts, Alice was desperately trying to ignore her surroundings. She struggled to get to the next charm, hoping maybe the black bishop would shed some light on the bullet storm. Finely after her hand stopped shaking, she got her finger to press down on the button. She held her breath for a moment, waiting to see if a miracle would happen. For the first few seconds, the only sound Alice could make out was her own heartbeat. It thumped in her chest as if it were trying to break free. But it wasn't long before another noise took over the room.

This noise was so ear shatteringly violent, that both her and Zeek were forced to the ground in pain. It was a high pitch siren, howling out of some unknown speakers that were perhaps hooked up to the intercom. Alice used her voice to try and counteract the siren, but the siren was so loud, that she couldn't even hear her own voice. She curled up into a fetal potion, thinking maybe she could use more of her body to shield her ears. It was no use. There was nothing she could do to stop the sound from destroying any functionality in her eardrums.

When the sound did finally come to an end, she laid still on the ground, afraid to move in case the sound came back. Her vision was blurred and her head felt like it was going through a storm. She could hear nothing. It was as if the whole entire world went mute. When she felt brave enough to sit up, she looked to Zeek first to make sure he was still alive. He was slowly sitting up with her, looking just as disheveled as she was. She crawled to his side and grabbed his arm. He looked at her with a pained expression, most likely still recovering from the shock of the noise. At least he was still conscious. After suffering a concussion and some nasty bruises, he was lucky to still be alive.

Zeek tried to say something to her, but she only witnessed his mouth moving. She shook her head, telling Zeek she couldn't understand him. Zeek was in awe of his own disability. He looked around him as if he thought maybe he could find his answer to his problem somewhere on the ground. Meanwhile Alice rubbed her finger in her ear to try and bring some life back into. She hoped that the silence would only be temporary. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she looked up at Zeek who was gawking at something behind her. He was pointing towards the wall of windows and his jaw was slack. Just as Alice went to turn around to see what it was, a flash of canopy lights temporally blinded her. Not only was she deaf, but her sight was taken from her as well. She was really starting to regret her decision to use the charm bracelet.

When the lights were dimed to a glow, she shook off the intense head ache. Her eyes were met with a site she never thought was possible. How she couldn't have even heard the crash was beyond her. But there right in the middle of the room was a red mustang, idling with its head lights on and pieces of glass covering it like snow. For her not to hear the glass shatter must have meant her ears were probably shot. She could start to feel her panic level rise. What if her hearing was lost forever?

The door to the mustang was opened and a hand waved for them to come. She had already trusted one hand before, so she was adamant to trust this one. But seeing Mello out in the open gave her the courage to stand up. He was waiting in front of the car, using one hand to hold the gun out in front of him, and the other to rub his left ear. Alice wondered if he was deaf too.

She pulled Zeek up onto her shaking shoulder and helped him to his feet. When they were steady, she limped towards the safety of the mustang. Alice never felt so happy to see a mustang before. As she got closer, Mello met her halfway and grabbed Zeek's other arm. He used his shoulder to support him, giving Alice a break from all the extra weight. She thanked him out loud, but she didn't know if Mello had even taken notice of her.

When they got to the car, Zeek was first to be pushed inside. He found a comfortable spot behind Matt who was in the driver's seat, waiting for the signal to escape. Alice was next, landing softly on the leather seat with a heavy sigh. It wasn't long before Mello was in the passenger seat, and Matt was revving up the engine. At least, that's what Alice thought he was doing. She couldn't hear it, but she could feel the power of the motor though the leather.

She gave the warehouse one last look as Matt screeched in reverse. The night sky was clear of any clouds and the moon was half full, making it almost seem as if her troubles were half over. She couldn't help the nervousness she felt, knowing that soon enough she would be reunited with everyone, including L. Her hands gripped tightly to her shirt, clawing at the skin underneath. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, and she couldn't seem to get enough oxygen. She licked her lips numerous times, but they continued to taste like dirt. It was the guilt that was eating away at her. She wanted it to stop. She wanted her life back at the Wammy house and she wanted to eat a bowl of Watari's beef stew. It felt as if she hadn't eaten for days.

Even though Zeek had lost the ability to hear, he could still sense the anxiety coming from Alice. It was like a heat wave of nausea, closing in around his own throat. He quickly grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it, hoping maybe it would calm her down. She looked to him with frantic eyes and squeezed his hand back. Zeek was a good friend, and she had no regrets about saving his life.**  
**

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!**  
**

******MsBlondiePunch**, **Sofia10Soccer**, **chabitso.0**, **xGrellSutcliffx**, **blackstar778**, **gallowsCallibrator**, **randomasrainbows**, **Crazyinabottle**, **Karen**, **tootsiepop101**, **SpringBorn**, **I Am Pandora**, **BibiNyan**, **wolf neko, random reviewer**. (I brought you all back an amazing chapter! (Which was late, I know...) I hope you like it! Again, I can't thank you all enough for your support! Florida may of had pretty beaches, but nothing compares to the joy I get from writing this story and reading your reviews. So I'm going to get my cheesy ass back on the computer and start typing up more chapters! BAZINGA!)**  
**

**NiiNiiChii: **Teehee~ Oh you! I should read the books, you're right. I wouldn't want to miss L in a bear costume xD. I'm also going to use this opportunity to thank you again for the idea of cosplaying! I can't wait to see the photos!**  
**

**Annindofu: **The flight wasn't so bad, and Florida had pretty beaches! Also, I know you've already heard this many times before, but thank you for the artwork again! You put so much work into the art, and I can't thank you enough to even compare to your effort. So I'll keep writing to show my appreciation!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Of course it's a cow...xD! Oh I know this one! I've heard this riddle before. The answer is tomorrow, or the future.**  
**

**Speckles719: **The Florida beach was amazing! I had lot's of fun, so thank you! I'm relieved to know I portrayed BB well. At least, well enough to get by without a wrist slap. Le gasp! You've never been to crispy cream or Duncan? you are missing out my friend! You must try them! Especially crispy cream. Though I warn you to only eat one or two. Because you will explode if you any more than that. Oatmeal scotchies? I've never had them..._*turns to Google*_ Well, when presented with a baked good, I must now attempt to make them. If the internet does not give me any good recipes, could I rely on you for one? Thank you!**  
**

**Yumeno: **Orange juice? Brilliant! Since I've been in Florida, I hadn't had the time to make it yet, but I will try with orange juice! The Opera? These cakes are getting more interesting names by the minute. _*Looks up on Google*_ Holy %*$#! Soaked in syrup! This cake is Frenchly epic! I don't think my American brain can handle such brilliance, but it looks so yummy! I don't have the talent for that yet, so I'll stick with simple recipes first, and work my way up. =D**  
**

**g-minor-art: **Between 40 and 60 degree's is a norm for me. Anything above or below just makes me suffer. xD, I love the ocean! I went to the beach in Florida and collected lot's of shells! I understand what you mean by how vast the ocean is. I hate swimming out in open water for two reasons. One; can't swim as well as I want to; and two; I don't know whats under me. So I stick with pools. But I love boats! As long as I'm above the water, I'm a happy camper.**  
**

**Sara and Kisa: **Oh good! I'm not the creepiest one! Random word, I'm on it! I'll scour the chapter like a hawk finding its meal! Again, thank you for reading and reviewing my story! My brain has been on hyper-drive ever since I got back from Florida. So I hope my future chapters will make you both just as happy! xD**  
**

**hauarie: **Thank you! I've always wanted Babydolls! I'm romantically attracted to you as well (JK), so any questions you have, I will be happy to answer for you! When I mentioned posting my chapters on a regular basis, I meant that I usually post every two weeks. Sometimes it will be a week early, but that's only if I've done the impossible and typed like a mad woman. Second! Mello in a pink dress. Genius! Somehow that has to happen! Trapping him in a box will be difficult, but with your help I think we can pull it off!**  
**

**Struck-Speechless: **THANK YOU! I think I might get all teary eyed. I'm so honored to have made your crappy day turn around! And I hope to continue to keep your spirits high with each any every chapter I post. I am so thankful that you enjoyed my story so much! Now I am utterly speechless, and I love it!


	49. Back Together Again

_*Insert witty catchphrase here*_

Gosh,

wouldn't that be weird if I had one?

A catchphrase I mean.

Maybe Alice should have one...

"Where's my orange juice bitches?"

Would that be a good one?

Hehe~ I kid.

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: You all know what I don't own, do I need to remind you in every chapter?)_

* * *

**Back Together Again  
**

The last hour seemed to go by in a blur. Alice felt like her body was moving in fast-forward, but her brain was stuck in time. The car ride to the so called 'hideout' was quiet. Of course, that couldn't be helped, seeing as how two thirds of the occupants in the car were temporarily deaf. But luckily enough, her ears would eventually work again. The reason she knew it was temporary was because her hearing did start to recover after they pulled up to the hotel. It wasn't exactly the kind of recovery she had been hoping for, but even if it sounded like she was underwater, at least she had the comfort of knowing she was improving.

The hotel was not overly flashy, nor was it trashy and old. It was the first normal looking hotel Alice had seen in a long time. At least that gave her something less to fret over. But besides the average looking building, Alice had bigger problems to worry about. Upon being escorted out of the car by Matt, it finally hit her that she was going to see L for the first time in what seemed like forever. In reality, it had only been two days, but the events that had unfolded in the small amount of time had aged her considerably. So it felt as if years had gone by; she certainly felt like an old lady with her sore hips and hard of hearing. She was even staring to consider taking up the game _Bingo_. At least then she was guaranteed no gun fire or big muscle men with bald heads.

"Hmmphh dmmph smm unnn," Matt smiled down at her. He was holding onto her good arm, and making sure she didn't collapse on the ground. She couldn't understand a word he was saying, but he looked happy. He continued to talk to her as if everything was good between them. As if they hadn't had a big fight in the middle of a desert and then ditched her after calling her crazy. As much as she wanted to punch him in the nuts, she couldn't stop the mushy feeling inside of her after seeing him smile. He looked too happy to be angry with, and she couldn't very well ruin his moment by making him immobile. So she let her frustration go and decided to refocus her attention on something more important, such as her fear of never being able to hear properly again. She glanced over at Mello who she was sure had the same problem as her, but when she saw him talking to some guy with a white coat on, the sweat on her forehead only got worse.

Matt had helped her into a room with white walls and matching cabinetry. Underneath were the harmonizing white countertops and plenty of storage for medical supplies. It must have been the medical office in the hotel since the man with the white coat was ushering Zeek over to a bed. He looked to be in forties, with short brown hair and wrinkles on his forehead. They were worry lines, probably picked up from his work. Mello was helping Zeek walk which slightly upset her. He couldn't have done that when they were in the warehouse?

She didn't hold her anger for long, because Matt was forcing her over to the other bed. Not wanting to fight with him, she eased herself up and let her feet dangle off the edge. She didn't feeling like lying down. She wanted to be able to see what was going on around her. She was also worried about Zeek, and she wanted to watch over him while he was being examined.

Zeek couldn't understand a word the doctor was saying to him, but he let the guy examine the back of his head. He flinched at the touch of the doctor's hand. It was tender, and Zeek didn't like the ripple of pain that followed with it. After finishing with the back of his head, the doctor wrote something down on his clipboard and then took out an otoscope. Alice watched as the doctor moved some of Zeeks hair away from his ears. He was a bit taken back when he found Zeek's ears to be extra pointy and long. Zeek still hadn't removed the elf ears, and that got a smile from Alice. For the doctor's sake, the ears weren't covering the canal, so he was able to look into Zeeks ears without removing the rubber cosplay.

Alice felt the weight of the bed shift as Matt sat down next to her. He was giving her yet another smile. In the background, Mello was leaving the room, knowing his job was complete. Matt didn't mind the quick getaway. He already knew Mello apologized in his own way to Alice, so all that was left was for Matt to make amends. The down side to being reunited with Alice was the fact that she and Zeek temporarily lost their hearing, which was going to make it incredibly difficult to say he was sorry. The reason Mello didn't lose his hearing as much as Alice had was because he had on the safety of the ear pieces. When the earth shattering noise made a sudden appearance, L was quick to counteract the noise for Mello, making the effect less harmful. That in turn saved Mello from going deaf.

Matt wasn't sure where the noise came from, but he was still glad to see Alice was alright. She looked tired, but she had every right to be.

"Don't worry Ace, the doctor will fix you right up." Matt made another attempt to talk with her. She gave him a puzzled stare and shook her head, pointing to her ears in the process.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU," she shouted, even though he was sitting right next to her. In her head, she had to shout so she could understand herself. Otherwise her own speech would sound like she was mumbling underwater. At least when she yelled she could make out her own words.

The doctor looked startled. He started to talk to Matt with a concerned expression. Matt responded to him with a nod, and lightly patted Alice on the shoulder. Alice was incredibly confused. She looked to Matt for an answer, but all she got for a reply was Matt gesturing for her to be quiet. A simple index finger to the lips was all it took.

"WHY DO I HAVE TO BE QUIET?"

The doctor seemed to get more stressed, though he tried to stay professional about it. He grabbed a notepad and a pencil, and gave it to Matt. Matt thanked him and started to write on the notepad. When he was done scribbling, he gave the notepad to Alice. Alice read the context with a bothered frown.

**The doctor wants you to be emerged in silence for a while, so your ears can recover. **

Alice was about to ask another question when Matt stuck a pencil in her face. She sighed and took the pencil from him. Matt was glad to see her start to write. She may have been stubborn, but at least she was taking the doctor's advice. When she was done, she gave the notepad back to Matt.

**What's wrong with my ears?**

Matt turned to the doctor for the answer. He must have asked the doctor the question, because the next thing Alice knew, she had a piece of medical equipment being shoved in her ear. Matt was kicked off the bed, and the doctor was close to her face, looking through a tiny scope with a light. It was cold at first to feel the foreign object in her ear, but she got used to it.

Matt crossed his arms and started to drum his fingers. He was anxious to hear what the doctor would say. Usually temporary hearing loss didn't last long, but Alice's case seemed to be different. Whatever that noise was, it was meant to do some damage. He took a moment to glance over at Zeek who was rubbing his ear. He didn't look upset, and he didn't look scared, even though he was just beaten to a pulp and almost shot. He would later have to pull Zeek into an interrogation under the orders of L, but funny enough, he was looking forward to it. Somehow, he got the feeling it was not going to be a normal interrogation.

"She has got minor damage to her tympanic membrane, but nothing that wouldn't otherwise be caused by other everyday activities." The doctor got Matt's attention back.

"Will her hearing recuperate to its original state?"

"Has she had any medical problems I should know about in the past, such as heart conditions or brain trauma?"

"Healthy as a horse."

"Then I'm sure with her youth and hearty determination, she will recover just fine. As long as she isn't around anymore loud noises, then she will regain 100% of her hearing back."

That gave Matt some relief. If Alice got even the slightest bit damaged, then he had no doubt in his mind he would get a mouth full from L. Thankfully, his life would be spared.

"That's good to hear."

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT?"

The doctor gave a heavy sigh. Matt chuckled and grabbed the pencil from her hand. He quickly wrote down what the doctor had told him, and gave the notepad to Alice to read. Alice read the note, and a sigh of relief followed. There was a weight on her shoulders she hadn't realized she was carrying, until she felt the weight disappear. It was good to know that she would hear again.

But her relief was short lived when she remembered Zeek. He was the one to take most of the damage, so his hearing could have been worse off than hers. She tugged on the doctor's sleeve and pointed to Zeek. The doctor understood her unspoken question and smiled. He pointed to the notepad in her hand and nodded his head to show Zeek had the same condition. Alice's smile returned. She gave Zeek a thumbs up, whom in turn, smiled a goofy grin while giving her the peace sign. Sure they may have just come out of a warehouse after being kidnapped and shot at, but they couldn't help the cheerfulness they felt from making it out alive.

Matt had to interrupt their little moment by taking the notepad from Alice. The doctor was done with his job, so he moved over to a corner of the room to write more down on his little clipboard. Matt scribbled something down, and Alice thought he was going to hand it to her, but surprisingly, he gave the notepad to Zeek. Zeek was stunned at first, not sure what to think of Matt. They had just met, and it wasn't as if they could introduce themselves to each other under the circumstances. So Alice watched carefully as Zeek read the contents. When Zeek smiled, she felt a little more at ease. Zeek nodded to Matt and laid down on the bed. Alice was in a bit of wonder as to what was going on, but Matt again stole the notepad and wrote something down. He then handed it to Alice this time who took it with a bit of hesitation.

**The doctor gave you a clean bill of health, but we both agreed you need some rest. It's late, and there is a lot to discuss tomorrow.**

Alice had an idea of what needed to be discussed, but she pushed those thoughts aside. He was right. She did need some sleep. She hadn't realized until he mentioned it, but her eyelids felt heavy. She gave Matt a quick nod and rubbed her eyes. They could have pulled her into some interrogation room and punished her with a thousand questions, but thankfully they were giving her a break, and letting her sleep. She would thank them later, but for now, she was going to enjoy her few hours of blissful quiet unconsciousness.

* * *

Mello's boots clicked on the thin layer of carpet, each step mimicking the clocks tick. The hallway seemed to stretch, expanding further as he walked. There was still a lot to take in from the past hour. He was happy to have saved Alice from the warehouse, but his happiness was short lived. The past came crashing down on him once again, leaving him in a state of anger and confusion. Matt was so easily convinced of L's story, but Mello wasn't going to give in so easily. He needed one last testimony before he was going to make a conclusion. He was just going to have to wait until the morning.

"Mello, wait up," Matt waved from behind. Mello stopped long enough for Matt to catch up. "If you're wondering what the doctor found, I'm happy to say that Ace will be just fine, along with her odd new friend."

"I don't care."

"Oh, you don't now?"

Mello sneered and started to walk faster. Matt sighed, keeping up with him easily. He had longer legs then Mello, so speed was never a problem.

"Could you at least not give me the cold shoulder? You know as well as I do that we've made some mistakes. How long do you plan on holding onto this grudge?"

Mello stopped walking, causing Matt to almost run into him. Matt had wondered if maybe he pushed Mello's buttons too far, but Mello didn't say a word to him. He expected him to maybe yell or throw a fit, but he was eerily quiet, as if he were actually thinking over what Matt had told him.

"Excuse me," a young soft voice interrupted their dialogue. Matt and Mello were surprised to fine Near waiting in front of an open door. A cell phone was in his right hand, and he was holding it out towards Mello's direction. "Rebecca had another nightmare. She wishes to speak to you."

That turned Mello's mood around in an instant. He went from frustration to compassion in the blink of an eye. He didn't care if it was Near who was giving him the phone, he was quick to retrieve it and continue on down the hall so nobody could hear him as he calmed the child down. It was an often occurrence for Rebecca, and the only person in the Wammy house that could calm her down was Mello. Not even Watari or Roger could get her composed. So it was always Mello's job, in which he never once complained. He would always be there for Rebecca, no matter how far his travels would take him.

Matt let his friend go, knowing how close Mello was to Rebecca. It was a bond not even Matt could ever come close to. Even though the bond was made under horrific circumstances, Matt still was proud to see Mello finally have a close relationship with someone other than himself. And maybe someday Alice will break through Mello's hard exterior as well. Matt could only wish.

"Near," Matt caught Near before he went back into the room. Near looked to Matt with a neutral expression. Not even a twitch of the mouth or gleam in the eye. Matt had to remember the ride on the airplane to remind himself Near could feel emotion. "Would you like to know about Ace's condition?"

"No need. I am already up to date with her health status. She will recover with extended amounts of silence and well deserved rest."

"I'm guessing you and L were watching through the monitors?"

"Correct."

"Didn't you want to go say hi or welcome her back?"

"There was no need. We would have plenty of time for that tomorrow."

Matt wasn't entirely convinced. He wasn't sure if he saw it or not, but he thought he might of seen something spark in Nears eyes. Near must have really wanted to see Alice, though Matt knew he could never get Near to admit it. Even though Near and Mello considered themselves completely opposite of each other, Matt saw the similarities. Near could be just as stubborn as Mello.

"Fair enough," Matt backed off. He had already pushed Mello to the edge, he certainly didn't want to do the same with Near.

"If you are through with your worthless inquiry, then we should continue our work." Near proceeded into the room once again.

"Worthless?" Matt felt a vain pulse on his forehead. Again, he had to remind himself of the human side Near showed on the airplane. It was the only memory Matt kept with him to keep himself from getting angry.

* * *

Alice thought her night was going to be a carefree. She thought she would have sweet dreams of orange groves and dragonflies, but her dreams were taken over by her throat being enclosed. It was as if two large hands were wrapped around her esophagus, stopping any air from coming or going. She was being chocked by something, or someone whom she knew she feared immensely. She wanted nothing more than to be freed from the tight grip. She wanted to breathe. She wanted to fight. She wanted to cry. But no matter how much she struggled, it only seemed to be getting worse. The worst stage was when she could start to feel herself go numb. With the lack of oxygen in her blood, her body was shutting down. She tried to scream out, but with the restriction, she couldn't even get out a squeak. At some point she even wonder how much more fight she had left. It would have been easier to just let go. To just give into the numbness and let herself be free. But just as she was about make the ultimate decision, she faintly heard her name being called. It was quiet at first since her body had to remember how to comprehend sound, but the voice got louder. It wasn't until she felt her body jerk that she recognized the voice being Doug's. She shot up in bed with sweat trailing down her forehead and neck. She was wheezing heavily, trying to fill her lungs with the much needed oxygen. It had only been a nightmare, but the pain felt so real.

The voice that had been calling out her name was gone, but the dark room did have another sound that made Alice's heart race. It was the sound of crying, little hiccups and sobs. Even though the sound was depressing, she was still a bit happy to know her hearing had returned. She looked for the source, but the room was still too dark to see and her eyes hadn't adjusted yet. But the voice was still recognizable. There was only one person who could make her have dreams like that.

"Doug?" She whispered his name. The crying got quieter for a moment, and some movement in the corner caught her eye. She quickly pulled off her covers and hopped out of bed. Luckily Zeek was still sound asleep, so she was able to walk past his bed without any trouble. When she got closer to the corner, the silhouette of a figure started to emerge. She whispered his name one last time, and that seemed to finally get his attention. He peered up at her from behind his crossed arms resting on his knees. He looked just awful. His eyes looked even more red and puffy, and his skin was starting to turn a sickly yellow.

"I couldn't save him." His lips trembled. Alice didn't know what he was talking about.

"Save who?" she asked. It couldn't have been Zeek he was talking about. He was just fine. Was he talking about Eric? Did something happen to Eric?

"Look at him." Doug pointed behind her. "He's not moving, he's dead!"

Alice started to click her tongue. Of course he would be that stupid. Only Doug could make something so mundane as sleeping, and turn it into a tragedy. He gave her nightmares and woke her up for this?

"You moron!" Alice desperately wanted to smack him over the head. Unfortunately that would only go through his thick skull. Doug gave her a horrifying look.

"Are you making fun of my grieving?"

"He's not dead!"

Doug's lips formed a hard line. He scrambled to stand up and look her in the eyes.

"Then why is the sheet covering his face? Isn't that the sign of saying a person has passed on?" Doug sniffled, his brows buried together in a pout of anger. Alice rolled her eyes and looked over at Zeek. Her mouth twitched into a small smile when she noticed Zeek was covered completely with the sheet. She would have found this odd if not for her own behavior in bed. Compared to Zeek, she was the master of destroying her pillows and blanks, and making a fool of herself.

"Doug," Alice pinched the bridge of her noise. "If he were dead, would the doctor have left his body in here to decompose while I sleep?"

Doug opened his mouth to give her an answer, but was soon struck with a realization. Alice was right, Zeek couldn't have been dead. If he were, then his body would be stuck in some freezer.

"He's not dead! My buddy isn't dead!" Doug started to joylessly laugh.

A soft groan made Doug cover his mouth with his hand. Zeek started to shift on his bed, making Alice wonder if Zeek could hear Doug. Zeek was some kind of sensitive, so maybe he could feel Doug's presence in the room. But her theory was quickly shot down when Zeek went back to his motionless silence. Doug let out a long sigh. Alice didn't let him relax for long. There were so many questions she had for him, and the one that was eating away at her most was his long leave of absence.

"Where have you been?"

"Half the time I'm not sure. But I've been helping you!" Doug sounded excited. His emotions had flipped completely, and he was back to being his old self in no time.

"What do you mean helping?"

Seeing the smile on Doug's face made Alice worry. In the back of her mind, she had a theory of what he was going to say, but she hoped that maybe she would be wrong.

"I saved the money. Those thugs didn't deserve it. It all belongs to Zeek. He should get the money!"

_Damn it…_

Alice slapped her forehead and groaned. So it was Doug who took the money, just as Zeek had thought. It was Doug who put her through all that hell, even though he thought he was doing Zeek a favor. But in fact, he had almost killed Zeek. Alice wanted nothing more than to give him a lecture about what was considered right and wrong, but it was the middle of the night and she was still tired. She wanted to go back to sleep without the nightmares of being choked to death.

"Where's the money Doug?" She decided to get straight to the point. Doug looked so proud of himself that he was even beaming.

"I hid it in the best spot. Nobody will ever find it!"

"Where is it Doug?" her voice got more raspy.

"I hid it under my mattress."

Alice pinched the bridge of her nose again. She could feel the head ache start to emerge.

"I hate you with a passion right now."

"What?" Doug was thrown off.

"I really wish you were alive so I could kick you in the balls, but I'm too tired to care anymore. I'm going back to bed and I expect you to leave right now so you will let me sleep. We'll continue this little charade in the morning." She started to back away. Her bed was calling to her like a siren in the night.

"Eh?"

"You heard me."

"But what about…"

"Sleep." Alice hopped onto her mattress. That was the end of their discussion. She didn't have any more energy in her to talk. When her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light.

The rest of her night was peaceful. No more bad dreams of being choked or going numb. No more ghosts waking her up and giving her headaches. Just the peace and quiet of the wistful night. By morning, she was feeling brand new again. She could hear without it sounding like she was under water, and her arm didn't nearly hurt as much as it did the night before. She stretched her legs and curled her toes with delight.

She turned to tell Zeek good morning, but her good mood didn't last long. Zeek wasn't in his bed. She was alone in the room. Not even a note was left behind. She quickly ripped the covers off her and jumped out of bed.

"Zeek?" She tried his name, thinking maybe he could be hiding. Though what reason would Zeek have for hiding? When nobody answered, she started to bite her bottom lip. What was she suppose to do now? Was she even allowed to leave the room? After all the trouble she had been though, she would have thought that they would keep her confined for a couple years. But there nobody there to tell her otherwise. She had thought the silence yesterday was eerie, but this morning was proving to be worse.

"Hello?" She looked up at the corners to see if she could find a camera. Usually L would have some hidden away. If there were, then they would know she was awake.

_Knock knock knock_

_Oh thank god!_

Alice rushed to the door and turned the knob. She almost tripped as she flung the door open.

"Miss Ace?" Watari was surprised to see her in such a state. She looked winded, as if she just ran a marathon. But Alice was just as surprised as he was. She was frozen in the doorway, gapping at Watari. She thought she would never see the old man ever again. Or if she did, it would be under different circumstances. Her heart fluttered with delight. She wanted to give him a bear hug, tackle him to the ground even. But he was too proper for that. Instead, he held out his hand for a welcome back shake.

"Watari!" She squealed, taking his hand and giving in to her temptation. She pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his waist like a belt. Her head nuzzled his chest like a cat. Watari chuckled and sighed at the same time. He patted her head to show her some affection. He would be lying if he said he didn't like it.

"It's very good to see you again as well Miss Ace."

"You smell like beef stew." She purred. Watari was tempted to pull out his handkerchief. But she was blocking him from his pockets. He would just have to get used to her odd remarks without the comfort of his cream colored cloth.

"Thank you?"

She beamed up at him, letting him pat her head one last time. After the thirty second mark, the hug was getting uncomfortable, and he had to pull her away.

"I came here to tell you breakfast is ready, if you are hungry."

The thought of a tall cold glass of orange juice made her mouth water. She licked her lips and felt her stomach growl.

"Orange juice!" Her eyes sparkled. "And bacon!"

"Very well, follow me."

Alice skipped behind him as they walked down a narrow hall. She took the small opportunity to really get a good look at her surroundings. The carpets looked liked they belonged to a grandmother. They were covered in faded vines and stood out from the background of what appeared to be a type or purplish red. The walls were painted beige, and the room doors were all painted a dark maroon with big bold white numbers just above the peepholes. Not the classiest hotel, but respectable enough. At least there were no marble statue babies spitting out water.

As they rounded a corner, they soon entered a lobby looking room, with a large desk and two large glass doors that led to the outside. The sun was so very bright, with beautiful pink flowers decorating some of the large flower pots. It was inviting and warm. Much nicer then the dirty cold warehouse. Watari led her to the right, away from the doors and towards some tables. Next to the lobby was a row of ordinary looking tables, decorated with a small vase with a single tulip. But what really caught Alice's eyes were the carts of food next to the table. Seeing the pitcher of orange juice made her almost forgot where she was and who she was with. Her legs moved faster on their own, reaching the cart long before Watari could serve her any of the food.

"I'm in heaven!" She squealed with delight as she poured herself a glass. Any morning was a good morning as long as there was orange juice.

"I would hate to ruin your good mood this morning Miss Ace, but after breakfast your presence in requested in the interrogation room."

Alice choked back some of the orange juice she was drinking. With all the excitement of seeing Watari and having breakfast, she had almost forgotten what was in store for her for the morning. Matt had warned her about the discussion they needed to have, but she had waved it off last night to get some sleep. Now it was the morning, and she wasn't particularly prepared. What was she going to say to them? Mello had told her he was wrong before, but he could have been saying those lines just to get her to come with him. Did she fall into a trap? Were they going to lock her up in some padded room? Suddenly the orange juice didn't taste so sweet. She set the glass down on the table and closed her eyes. She needed to stop thinking before she went mad.

"I'm not so hungry anymore."

"Oh?" Watari raised an eyebrow. "Well, if that is the case, then please come with me Miss Ace."

Alice's body went rigid. It was better to get it over with now rather than later. And besides, there was a part of her that was looking forward to seeing L. She had made a promise to herself to apologize to him anyway. And maybe she would finally get the answers as to why everyone was acting like idiots the entire time, excluding herself. She also wondered if she would get a status update about Eric. She still worried about him and hoped with all her might that he was feeling better. Zeek as well. Knowing how L worked, Zeek was probably being interrogated right at this moment.

"Shall we?" Watari stood a ways away, waiting for her to follow. Her head drooped back and she sighed heavily.

"I'm coming."

* * *

"So when you went into the cave, didn't you trigger the mob of dragons?"

"No man, I'm a mage elf, so all I had to do was cast my ice guard. Makes my heat signature turn invisible so the dragons couldn't even tell I was there."

"No way!" Matt was impressed.

"If you think that is impressive, then what about your ability to control the trolls? Nobody in the history of _MagicRelic _has ever been able to do that."

"You flatter me,"

Next to Matt, Mello groaned in his hands. He was covering his face in shame over what the conversation had turned into. It had been a grueling ten minutes of nonstop talk about a computer game. No matter how hard Mello had tried to turn the conversation into something else, Matt wouldn't have it. So Mello was stuck listening to two idiots blabber on about dragons and trolls.

Matt finally noticed Mello's uncomfortable state, so he leaned back in his chair and put both his hands behind his head.

"We should probably move onto the actually interrogation now,"

"This is an interrogation? I thought we were just having breakfast." Zeek pointed to his empty plate. Mello rubbed the temples next to his eyes.

"Could you please just tell us how you met Ace."

"Met her at the convention. She pretended to be _LoveHearts _so she could warn me about the bad guys."

"Wait." Matt held up his hand before Mello could ask the next question. "Are you telling me that Ace was in that tournament?"

"Well I don't know about that, but if it was Doug who asked her to be _LoveHearts_, then I'm sure he made her enter the tournament too."

Matt's memory brought up the scene where the Queen of the Emerald forest was walking into a tree. The control of the character was so obviously played by somebody new to the game, that it must have been Alice. Matt couldn't help the smile that appeared next. When _LoveHearts_ flipped him the bird, that was a sign that he should have known it was her.

"What do you mean Douglas told her to be _LoveHearts_? He's dead." Mello got Matt out of his daydream.

"Don't you remember the fight you had in the desert?" Zeek seemed to stay cheerfully calm. However Mello remembered the episode with distaste. Not one of his moments he was particularly proud of.

"She said she could see ghosts." Matt answered Zeek. He seemed to have gotten more serious which pleased Mello.

"Yup, she told me Doug came to her to help me because I was in trouble."

"And what kind of trouble did Douglas supposedly tell her you were in?"

"Doug had stolen a lot of money from those two thugs you beat up, and he told her to warn me about my life being in danger because of it."

Matt scratched the back of his head and looked at the table. Could he really believe in Alice seeing ghosts? Zeek wasn't very convincing, but when L had told him, he couldn't stop his growing curiosity. There were crazier things in life other than being able to see the dead, so why was he having such a hard time believing it? Mello was just as frustrated at Matt. He didn't know what to believe either, and the only way he was really going to even consider the idea was if he heard it straight from Alice herself. For now, she was going to be the only person besides Matt that he was going to trust.

"So where is this stolen money then?" Matt leaned forward.

"That's the strangest thing man! It disappeared! Like magic!"

"Magic…right," Mello rolled his eyes. First being able to see dead people, and now disappearing money stacks? His job was turning into a circus act.

* * *

Alice was left in room with only a table and white walls. There was seriously something wrong with this hotel, because when she was led to the basement, she noticed a jail cell along the way to the interrogation room. What kind of hotel would have a jail cell in their basement?

But besides the creepy atmosphere, she still felt relaxed enough to sit and wait. The table was a cold metal and the walls could have used a splash of color, but she stayed positive. She would soon reunite with L and everything was going to be back to the way it was before she went all ape-shit crazy. And look at that. She was even starting to blame herself for being overdramatic. She was on the right path already.

The door clicked, making it know to her that somebody was coming in. Her heart started to race. Every bit of confidence she had before was tossed out the window. When the door started to open, her palms grew sweaty. She had to repeat her apology in her head just so she wouldn't forget. Thinking maybe she should be more formal, she stood up from her chair and tried to fix her hair.

Wait, why did it all of a sudden matter what she looked like?

L entered the room in his usual shuffle, the door slowly shutting behind him. His eyes automatically focused on Alice's, and he was so relieved to see those golden globes staring back at him, even if she did look frightened. Alice held her breath, waiting to see what L would do first. It was that awkward moment of not knowing what to say or what to even do with her hands. Half of her brain was telling her to apologize while the other half was telling her to go hug him. Somehow the half that was telling her to hug was winning. But amazingly, she held back. She didn't want to send him into shock. That would certainly ruin their reunion.

For a moment, L was in the same predicament. Hugging her would not be logical at this point since he was suppose to be upset with her. She ran away yet again and even defied him when he offered to help her. So he had every right to be upset with her. But for the life of him, he just couldn't. So instead of being angry, he decided to focus on a different emotion entirely. His emotion of curiosity. At least then he could stay professional.

"Have a seat Ace." The silence was broken by L who pointed to the chair behind her. Alice slowly sat down, keeping her gaze on him the entire time. He felt a bit awkward under her stare. He wasn't sure what she was thinking about.

"L," She finally managed to say his name. That caught L off guard. Her voice almost turned him into mush. "I'm so sorry."

"Yes, I know." L had to stop her. He needed to stay in control of this interrogation and he couldn't very well do that when Alice made him feel guilty. Oh how he hated the power she had over him. And she didn't even know the effect she had. That's what made it worse. "We can make our apologies later. Right now I only wish to clarify that you are healthy, and discuss with you about your travels."

"The doctor said I would be fine, and this morning my hearing seems to back to normal."

"Yes, I am aware of what the doctor said, but would you allow me to check just in case he missed something? I've been trained in basic medical treatment, so I have complete confidence that I won't overlook anything."

"You want to…look in my ears?"

"If that is okay with you." L put a small bag on the table. He didn't wait for an answer. He immediately pulled out the same instrument the doctor used last night to look into her ears. Alice felt her cheeks grow warm. Was he really going to examine her?

"Don't you want to know what I've been doing these past two days?"

"We'll get to that soon, but your physical condition is far more important. Like that bruise on your arm. Does that still hurt?" He came around the table, making Alice slip further into her chair.

"Uh..." she was tongue-tied. L was already too deep into his objective to even notice her odd behavior. His thoughts were filled with different diagnostics, such as how tender the muscle under the bruise was, or what kind of damage was done to her ear drums. So when he reached down to touch her bruise, he was a bit taken back when Alice grabbed his hand to stop him. Alice was just as surprised as he was. She had never been so embarrassed to be close to him before, but for some reason being with him now was different. To cover up her sudden rejection to his touch, she laughed and poked at her own bruise.

"It's still a little sore, but nothing that I couldn't handle."

"That's good to hear," L was relieved. He could have looked deeper into the meaning of why she stopped him, but he wanted to complete the medical exam first, just to make sure she was as healthy as the doctor claimed she was. "Then could you please turn you head this way." L grabbed her chin and moved her head for her. A shiver ran down Alice's spin. It was so sudden that she didn't even have time to resist. L pushed some of her hair behind her ear so he could get a better view with his otoscope. The shivers just seemed to be getting worse. Alice never felt so much blood rush to her face at once. When he was only inches away from her face, Alice started to hold her breath. She felt the object in her ear and L's breath on her cheek. It smelled sweet, like honey.

"This ear looks good." He finally pulled away after what seemed like forever. But he was quick to walk to her other side and repeat the steps. First pushing back some of her hair, and then placing the medical instrument in her ear. Alice continued to hold her breath, counting the seconds in her head. After she reached ten, L was finished and stepping aside. "The doctor was right, just a little damage to your ear drums, but nothing that won't be repaired over time."

Alice let go of the breath she had been holding. L took her exaggerated sigh and a sign of relief. He was pleased to know he could ease her troubled thoughts. Just one less stress in her life that he helped to clear up.

"Uh, thank you." She bowed her head to hide her rosy cheeks.

"Think nothing of it. I just wanted a second opinion on your examination results. Now that we've cleared up your health record, I would like to move onto the questioning."

"Okay…" Alice was still a bit dazed. She was trying to get her body back to a normal temperature while at the same time, clear her mind of cluttered thoughts. So far, it was taking longer than she thought. As L put away the otoscope, he occasionally glanced over at Alice to see how she was doing. She was looking away from him, which made him wonder if he did something to upset her. The last time they spoke, she was in tears over the phone. He couldn't help her, so it ended up with Alice getting angry with him. He felt just awful about the outcome of that phone call, and he truly hated to see her sad. So he curled up in the chair opposite of hers and took a deep breath.

"I must apologize for my behavior."

"What?" Alice's head snapped up. Her face was still red, but she was getting it under control quickly.

"Over the phone I upset you deeply, and so I apologize for not being able to help you."

"Oh, that." Alice had almost forgotten. The last few minutes had completely left her brain dead, so she had to remind herself what had happened in the last two days. "Don't worry about that."

"Very well." L nodded his head. "Then let's get straight to the point. The less time we waste, the faster we can get back to catching the criminals."

Alice took in a deep breath. She had to mentally prepare herself, but she knew this was going to be for the greater good. She just hoped her heart would be able to hold out until the end. It was thumping in her chest like a drum. The drama over the past two days must have been finally catching up with her. She didn't know how else to explain her beating heart.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**gallowsCallibrator, SpringBorn, xMisaki-Chanx, Crazyinabottle, ****Angel Ayame**, **Karen**, **MsBlondiePunch**, **xGrellSutcliffx**, **chabitso.0**, **blackstar778**, **ShnieseAce**, **KiyUzumaki**, Rachel Young, YasashiiAkaiNeko, Ironicsheep, Betsu, wolf neko, and XBloodMageRikaX. (I get the odd feeling that my work is being stalked... you all wouldn't happen to know what I'm talking about, do you? _"Wisty, you're so silly!"_, Yeah...I'll admit to my quirkiness. So, THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS! You all are the cherry to my sundae!) **  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Alcohol? hehe, get it? Because the more you consume it, the less you comprehend what your surroundings are. Okay, bad joke. Let me think of a real answer...hmmm...Cataracts? If you have more of an eyesight problem, eventually you're not going to see...**  
**

**chocolatxdoll:** Aw! Thank you so much! I can't believe you sat for hours reading my story too! I'm the happiest author to ever exist on this site!**  
**

**Speckles719: **Son of an Irish manatee! Damn those were GOOD cookies! I love the mixture of the oatmeal and the butterscotch chips! And I made the cookies chewy, so they melted in my mouth. My whole family loved them too, so we all thank you for the recipe! And do my eyes misread me, but did you say you have more amazing recipes? _*ahem*_ You know, I wouldn't mind another cookie recipe...or anything that would be considered amazing...if you feel like sharing...you wouldn't have to...but...if you want...that would be fantastically generous of you. =D (I would owe you of course, so keep that little jewel in mind.)**  
**

**g-minor-art: **Ohh, a jumping boat! That does sound like fun! Yummy! CAKE! _*Nom nom nom*_ (Yes, they got their medical treatment. I couldn't let them go deaf forever.) he he~ Thank you for the cake!**  
**

**Sofia10Soccer:** AHH, YOU WROTE ANOTHER REVIEW JUST FOR ME! I'M SO HAPPY! I feel so honored. =D

**freaksforever: **Land of the dead? How is it there? Did you see the grim reaper? Did you steal his scythe? I would have...but enough about my twisted mind, what I really wanted to say was how freaky the coincidence is that you went to Nevada to see your grandmother. Because I went to Florida to see my step brothers grandmother before she passes away too (not exactly like your situation, but the reasons for going are the same). Weird...and sorry about your grandmother. I know how it feels to loose a grandparent. It sucks. Oh and congratulations on graduating! WHOOP! Answer to question about Maria's baby: Maria's baby, aka Rebecca, still lives in the house. In fact, she was already introduced in chapters 25 and 33 (Halloween Interlude). **  
**

**Random person:** I would be happy to help you set up an account. When you first enter this site you will notice in the right hand corner two choices to click on; **sign in** or **sign up**. You need to click on **sign up**. Next you will need to type in a few things. The fist is the_ pen name_ which is your profile name. Mine is Wisty. You can type in anything you want for yours. Next you will type in your e-mail address, and after that you make up your own password. It's pretty simple. Just check in the box that you've read the policy and terms of service and also check the box if you are over 13 years old. The site is completely free. You don't have to pay anything. So don't worry about that. And it's not like facebook. It doesn't track you. You update your story whenever you wish too. and readers will have the option to follow your story if they wish. But nothing personal is ever leaked on this site so you are protected, unless you chose to give away any information. Good luck, and I hope I was able to help you!


	50. Money under the Mattress

I've come so far!**  
**

WOOT!

To celebrate this being my so called "50th" chapter, (which it isn't, seeing as how I don't count my Halloween chapter) my close friend who supports me and my amateur writing skills, has decided to draw Alice for me!

I think she's pretty awesome, so go check out my profile for the link! You can tell her what you think about it in the reviews!

TEE HEE! *Takes a sip of tea*

Enjoy the chapter my fine fellow fan-fiction lovers.

_(Disclaimer: La la la, I do not own Death Note, la la la...)_

* * *

**Money under the Mattress**

"So after you realized the truck was low on fuel, you decided to walk to the meeting place to see Eric?" L was intrigued.

"Well I couldn't very well drive there." Alice answered, starting to feel a lot more relaxed around L. She wasn't sure what brought about her nervousness before, but it was slowly starting to fade away, leaving her more self-assured.

"And this was all because Matt had informed you of the interrogation taking place with Joseph,"

Alice could have sworn she heard some edge in his voice; especially with Matt's name. But she put it past her and nodded her head to give him a straight answer. She remembered the phone call that made her upset; she literally smashed her phone to the ground. Mello and Matt were trying to convince her that L didn't want her help with the case, and to be honest, she never actually understood why they would even try to convince her of such a thing. She wanted to ask L right then and there, but he was set on only being the one to ask questions. She had to tell her story first before she could get a word out of him.

At first she didn't like the arrangement, but after running away on her own, accused of haven been a liar, going through a depression, getting knocked against a wall and locked into a cage, and almost killed by gunfire, she decided it would be best to just give in to L's demands and do as he says. She didn't have much fight in her left, and she wanted all the misunderstandings to be cleared up. She especially wanted L to believe her when she claimed to see Doug's ghost. He hadn't rolled his eyes yet, but that didn't mean he wasn't thinking about it. She would just have to wait until the end of her explanation to see what he really thought about all of this.

"So tell me about Eric then." L moved on without waiting for her response.

"Eric was useful." Alice couldn't help the smile. "He didn't even mind helping me even when he found out about Zeek's marijuana problem."

"He was the one to drive you to Houston."

"That's right. We played games the whole way. Did you know Eric can dance the salsa?" Alice's laugh escaped her lips. L didn't find it as funny as she did.

"That is irrelevant. How did you manage to find out Mr. Alchi was attending the convention?"

"With the help of Doug. He remembered they both went to this convention annually every year."

"I see, and so you found Mr. Alchi."

"Yup, he was at the convention, but we couldn't stay long."

"And why is that?"

Alice leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other.

"I spotted Matt and Mello nearby and I didn't want to be caught."

"So you went with Mr. Alchi in his mobile home, even though you barely knew the man."

"Zeek is Doug's best friend, and I trust Doug, so therefore, I trust Zeek." She crossed her arms next. It was a sign of her getting defensive, so L knew he needed to back off before he angered her even more.

"Alright, let's move on to the scene of the desert. Can you tell me exactly what happened between you and the boys?"

The dark memories of the desert came flooding back to Alice in a rush of fog and haze. It clouded her mind and made her feel like she was being surrounded by white walls. A subtle claustrophobia overtook her senses and made her take a deep breath before she could talk.

"That's when I told them the truth," she began. "They were trying to take me away, and I couldn't leave Zeek behind. I had to tell them the truth."

L saw the pain in her eyes. He hated to see her so upset, but he kept quiet. He wanted to wait until she was finished with her explanation, just like any other detective would.

"They told me you were going to hurt me, and that's when things got worse. They didn't want to believe me when I said I could see the dead. Mello called me a…" Alice's voice choked up at the last line. Repeating it out loud was incredibly hard for her, even though she had been called a liar before. But the words had come out of Mello, which made it all that much worse. Seeing her hesitation, L jumped in.

"I would never hurt you Ace."

He said the words without even considering the possibility of the phrase being out of place or of the wrong time. He felt it was necessary to say to her. He wanted to make himself clear before she got any other ideas. The thought of her in pain anyway, pained him even more.

Alice took the words with a grain of salt. She believed him, but she still wanted to know the reason behind Mello's words. It wasn't as if Mello would flat out lie to her. He sounded as if he were telling her the truth anyway, as if he actually believed L would hurt her. But for what reason, she couldn't comprehend.

"I trust you," she answered him after noticing his stare and silence. That seemed to satisfy him.

"Splendid," he exhaled. "Then we can move onto the kidnapping." He changed the topic quickly. Alice was thankful for that.

"What do you want to know? Since you found and saved me, I'm guessing you already knew what happened."

"Yes, we underwent an investigation, so we do have theories of how the struggle went, but I would like some clarification from the victim herself."

"We were parked outside of an abandoned amusement park. We were making some brownies when they showed up."

"Their aliases are Grill and Hammer." L interrupted. Alice was a bit taken back at first, not sure what to think about the names.

"Okay, well this Grill and Hammer were horrible. Eric managed to smash a bottle over the Italians head, but he was thrown on top of the door by the muscle man. Eric was tough though, and when he saw the muscle man had me in his grip, he charged at him. He…" Alice's story was blocked by her memories. Her lips stopped moving, and her eyes slowly zoomed to the table in front of her. The smell of gunpowder made the small room insufferable. The sound of ignition starting a fire and blasting through her ear drums, made her cringe internally. Eric had been shot, and she was knocked out before she could even do anything to help him. He literally saved her life, and now she was sitting there with L without even considering asking him if Eric was doing any better. Her stomach started to turn. What was she doing?

"Eric…" she exhaled loudly.

"Excuse me?" L was starting to grow worried by her sudden change in tone.

"Where is he? Mello said he was fine, but is he? Will he be okay? Is he going to live?" She stood up abruptly. She couldn't contain herself with just sitting there. She felt like she had to do something, even if it meant to stand up. At least then she could let her body feel some sort of action.

"Please Ace, calm down. He is doing just fine. The gunshot was not fatal and he will recover with time."

"I want to see him."

"Sit down." L didn't let her argue. After all this time they had been separated, and she wants to see Eric? Sure he was shot, but he just told her Eric was going to be fine. He wasn't going to let her go so easily this time.

"Why can't I see him?"

"We are still conducting this interrogation, and I intend to finish it without interruptions. You can visit him later."

Alice gently sat back down in her chair, eyeing L along the way. She had upset L before by getting caught by the serial killer, but this seemed different. He hadn't raised his voice nor did he sound venomous. But she could feel something different about him. She wasn't sure what that was, but she knew he meant what he said about her needing to stay and finish the interrogation. It almost sounded desperate?

Seeing her cooperate, L quickly moved on to the next question to take her mind off of his abrupt orders.

"After the ordeal in front of the abandoned amusement park, what happened? I'm assuming you were roughly treated, seeing as how you have a good size bruise on you upper arm."

Alice placed her hand over her bruise, hoping to cover the purple and blue splotches. It was not a pretty site, and she did feel a little self conscious for having it.

"I woke up in a cage after being knocked out against a wall."

"Did you hit your head?" L's voice picked up. He looked about ready to stand up and give her another exanimation, but Alice stopped him before he could.

"No, no! I'm fine!" She held her hands up. Her heart felt like it was going to leap from her chest. Why was she so jittery? "It was my arm that took most of the impact, so that's why it's so bruised."

L eased up and allowed her to continue the story. He had to talk himself out of the examination, but he was able to calm himself down and readjust his priority back to his work.

"After I woke up, I noticed Zeek was tied up. I was too of course, but they did a horrible job of it. I was free to at least adjust my hands in front of me."

"If you were inside a cage, then how was it you were able to break free? Mello found you fighting off Hammer."

"A ghost set me free." Alice was being serious. She didn't even hesitate to give him the answer, because she knew she was telling the truth. She saw the dial on the lock turn on its own. She wasn't sure who had helped her, but she was thankful to that spirit none the less.

"Interesting," L stuck his thumb to his bottom lip.

"And from there you probably know what happened." Alice ran her hand through her hair.

"Yes, I sent Mello and Matt to retrieve you, and they performed their job beautifully."

Alice bit the inside of her lip and watched as L slowly got up from his chair.

"The interrogation is official over," he began. "I know you have a lot of questions for me now, but I think it would be best to hold off with that discussion until we are all together."

"We?" Alice wondered.

"Matt, Mello, Near, Watari, you and I." L clarified for her.

"What about Zeek and Eric?"

"They are not necessary."

"What?" Alice stood up with L.

"Eric is still under the care of the doctors and Mr. Alchi has already completed his interrogation."

"But,"

"We need to meet Watari. He is waiting for us in the control center,"

"Control center? This is a hotel," she said, watching L reach for the door. L didn't give her a response, but instead made his way out the room, holding the door open for her. Alice's frown deepened, but she followed him out anyway. It was better than being in the white prison, and at least she was going to be together with everyone and possibly get some answers. Keeping her hopes high, she walked behind L who guided her in his usual way of shuffling.

"Is Mello okay? He must have hurt his ears too." Alice's hands started to flex, feeling her bracelet twist on her wrist. She wasn't sure if L knew she was the one to cause that horrible noise, and she certainly didn't want to make her situation any worse by admitting it, so she kept her mouth shut. Her bracelet was going to be her secret until she felt ready to disclose her weapon. At least until they could all look back on this day and laugh about it. That would be the right time to tell them.

"He is just fine."

"Good," Alice sighed.

"Nobody has been seriously injured unless you wish to count the few men who tried to stop your escape."

Alice's flashback went to the moment of the gunfire in the factory. Mello was behind a conveyor belt, shooting at the few he could hit as they came through the door. Alice had actually witnessed the death of two men, both getting shot in the heart and bleeding out. Some bile started to come up her throat, but she stopped it by swallowing. She's met many spirits in her life, but if there was one thing she would never be comfortable with, it's the moment of seeing someone die.

"Right," was her only response. She didn't want to risk the bile returning.

Not realizing her discomfort, L continued on down the hall, reaching a door that looked like it could stop a bullet. When L knocked twice, the thick metal almost made his knocks unrecognizable. The door was unlocked and Watari was the first to greet them.

"Evening sir, your tea is ready." He took a bow, letting L walk past him.

"Excellent. Please find Ace here a place to sit while we wait for the others." L found his chair in front of his computer. He seemed to have upgraded from a simple laptop to three 12x15 inch screens all hooked up to a large monitor with flashing blue lights in a black chrome finish. Alice would have been impressed had she not noticed the large yellow inflatable raft on top of both of the twin beds. It was a bright yellow, with black markings. It even had ropes hanging off the sides and an oar strapped inside on the base. She stopped in the doorway with her jaw hanging open. A distinguishable question mark popped up over her head.

"Uh…" she slowly started to point to the elephant in the room. Near made a surprise appearance from the floor, sitting close to L.

"Ace," he called out her name. Alice was cast out her trance and forced to find the sweet innocent voice that called to her. When her eyes locked onto that white mop of hair, a rush of butterflies filled her stomach. Not once has Near ever made any attempt to upset her throughout this whole trip, so the fact that she finds him innocent was not surprising. In fact, she never felt so happy to see his cold dark stare. It was a breath of fresh air, no matter how contradicting his demeanor made that statement sound.

"Near!" Her voice squeaked as she rushed away from the entrance. In seconds she was on her knees and wrapping her arms around his tiny stature. She locked his arms to his side, so he literally had no escape. He had to accept his fate and let his head rest on her shoulder in an uncomfortable position. Alice felt his body become stiff, but she ignored it. She was just too happy to care if she was making Near feel uncomfortable.

"It's nice to see you too," he said, trying to ease his way out of her grip. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see L giving them a look. Alice's back was facing L, so it was only Near getting the stare, and he could have sworn he felt a stabbing sensation on his forehead. L was obviously not okay with their hug, and he was not afraid this time to show his displeasure.

Watari had to cough to break up Alice and Near. He must have noticed L's look as well. Near felt relieved to be free. Alice graciously let go after she noticed how long it had been. Near hoped that would be enough to make L feel better. Thankfully, L was back to working on his case after their hug was over.

"I'm so happy to see you! Have you grown?" Alice eyed him up and down. He was sitting in his usual manner of one leg on the ground, while the other was perched up for his hand to rest on. His one finger was twirling a piece of his hair and he was giving Alice a neutral expression. It was the Near she knew and loved. Nothing seemed to change about him, except possibly his height.

"I could not give you an accurate answer. I have not measured my height in quite some time."

"God I missed your straight forward answers." Her smile turned warm.

"Yet you seem to find my responses to be displeasing? Have I not been straight forward with you as well?" L questioned, keeping his focus on his screens.

"It would be cuter if you were a child." Alice gave L a side glance.

"If I'm not mistaken, back in Paris you referred to me as a panda, which in the animal kingdom are recognized to be very cute. Therefore I am cute."

Alice couldn't help the whoop of laughter that followed.

"Such bull! But if it makes you feel better, I did miss your sad attempts to outwit me."

"Sad attempts?" L raised an eyebrow.

"Sir," Watari interrupted their little reunion.

"Yes?"

"They are on their way."

"Alright," He finally turned away from his consistent typing. "Ace, there is chair right next to me you can relax in. Make yourself comfortable, and try not to make a scene when Mello and Matt get here."

Alice shot up from the ground and crossed her arms. "What reason would I have for making a scene? Do you honestly think I'm that petty to hold onto a grudge?"

"I think you have an overactive imagination and tend to be overemotional."

"Excuse me? Overemotional?"

"Please Ace." Watari held up his hands to try and calm her down.

"You listen here pal, I have every right to be overemotional! You're lucky I'm not having a mental break down right now!"

"And this is you being calm?" L returned back to the safety of his typing. It gave his nervous hands something to do. He was not doing a good job with his communication, so he needed to relieve some of the pressure with his work. Yet another part of his training he would have to revisit and practice. He was literally sticking his foot in his mouth, making every part of the conversation worse.

"Oh that's it." Alice held her hand out to nobody in particular. "Somebody get me a gun." She looked around the room.

"Ace." Watari gave a heavy sigh. L started to feel the sweat on his forehead. But before Alice could continue her rant, the metal door was pushed open, revealing Mello and Matt coming inside.

"You two are idiots!" Mello's arms waved up in a tired manner.

"You're just jealous that you don't have the ultimate power of a warlock." Matt shrugged his shoulders, shutting the door behind him.

"Who would want that?" Mello fumed, turning to face Matt. Matt was paused in front of the door, looking past Mello. He appeared frozen in place, as if some force was holding him down. Noticing his gaze was looking behind him, Mello turned to see what Matt was gawking at. There, sitting in all its yellow and black glory was the raft. Mello was just as stunned as Matt. Why was there a raft on top of two twin beds?

"Gentlemen, glad you could join us." Watari got behind them so he could grab their shoulders.

"There is a raft…" Matt started to mumble, but Watari forced them both to move away from the door.

"Yes, we know, now please take a seat here." He led them to a couch pushed against a wall. Alice was watching them, staying close to L on the opposite side. There was a chair next to her, but for some reason she couldn't find the motivation to sit down just yet. She felt it was more important to watch them. After they were forced to sit, Mello finally seemed to notice Alice in the room. Alice had to look away, getting tired of being stared at. She just wanted the mood in the room to go back to the way things were. She hated the awkward silence.

"Mello, I believe you have a few questions for Ace." L announced, breaking the tension in the room. Watari backed away to his corner, making Alice a bit jealous that he could go unnoticed in the room, while she had to stand out. Mello crossed his arms and leaned back in the sofa. Alice waited to see what he would say. She wondered why he had on such a serious expression. She could start to feel the sweat build up on her palms. What did he want to ask her?

Suddenly Alice felt a tug on her pants near her ankle. She looked down at the culprit with wonder.

"Can you really see the dead?" Near asked abruptly. Mello started to cough with surprise.

"Huh?" Alice's thoughts turned into a blank canvas. The question had been so unexpected that she couldn't even process what had been asked.

"Ghosts, can you see them?"

"Near, I think you've should have eased into the question a bit slower." Matt rubbed the back of his neck.

"We have limited amount of time for this discussion and Mello was taking too long."

"You little prick," Mello growled. L watched as Alice slowly sunk into the chair he offered her a while back. She had a far off stare, as if she were fighting a war inside her head.

"Are you alright Ace?" L kept his eye on her as her facial expression went from confusion to disbelief.

"Yeah…I'm fine," her voice trailed off. It didn't exactly make L feel any better.

"Look at that Near, you broke her." Matt snickered. Near made no attempt at a response. He was too busy watching Alice.

"I'm not broken." Alice felt her eyebrow twitch. "I'm just surprised is all."

"What do you have to be surprised about? You were the one screaming at us in the desert to believe in your psychic ability. If anybody should be surprised, it should be us," Mello responded while rubbing his forehead. He looked exhausted.

"Do you believe me now?" Alice got her hopes up. She didn't get a response from either of the boys on the couch. Matt looked uncomfortable with the question while Mello just looked angry. Not much a difference for him, but the silence said it all. "Oh…" Alice became gloomy.

"Shall we conduct an experiment?" L made a suggestion. That seemed to brighten Alice's spirits. If she could give Matt and Mello some proof, the surely they would be more inclined to believe her!

"That's a wonderful idea!" She clapped.

"I have an idea." Mello leaned forward, loosening his arms from there locked position. "I've just interrogated Zeek and he had some interesting things to say about your little adventure."

"Did he tell you about the stolen money?"

Matt smirked at her at her question. Seems the experiment was already working.

"Yes…the money that Doug stole."

"Ah yes," L interrupted, pulling up a picture onto one of his computer screens. Alice recognized it immediately as Joseph, the man who murdered Doug. "If you were to have cooperated with me Mello, then you would have learned from Joseph here about the little scandal."

Mello started to sneer. L was calling him out and he didn't like the cocky attitude.

"Zeek told me he knew nothing about the money until you came along," Mello decided to ignore L. It was best if he didn't make any comments to him anyway. He felt better avoiding him then he did with confrontation.

"Well, if you can believe me, Doug came to me for help. He told me he needed to find his friend Zeek, and so I did just that. Later he told me about the money in the secret compartment in his room. Not sure why he didn't tell me sooner, but it is what it is I suppose." Alice shrugged. "And that man," She then pointed to the screen. "Is the man who killed Doug. He was the collector, and Doug wouldn't give him the money, so this guy chocked him to death."

"Very good Ace," L was impressed. He had never given any of Joseph's information away other than his name, and if he remembered correctly, he and Alice did conduct a psychic search with his photo back at the barn. She claimed many of the same elements that were true to his guilty plea.

"What else have you learned?" Near was becoming just as fascinated.

"I could tell you where Doug was killed. I could tell you about the convention Doug and Zeek go to every year. I could even tell you where the money is now." Alice's eyes flashed with delight. She immediately saw the shock on Mello's face. She must have hit the nail on the head, because even Matt looked stunned.

"What do you know about the money?" Matt leaned forward.

"Last night I was woken up by Doug who thought Zeek was dead. The guy was a mess, but I cleared up the misunderstanding."

"Are you saying a ghost visited you last night?" Near sounded excited. Alice fed off the excitement like a sponge to water.

"That's right, and he told me where he hid the money."

Mello snorted at this statement. "Where is it then?"

Alice paused for dramatic effect. At the beginning, she felt awkward under all their stares, but now she felt empowered and excited. She felt ready to finally just let go and tell everyone about her gift. She was ready to be free from hiding, and ready to be loved for the way she was. Ready to be believed.

"It's inside of Zeek's RV still. It was always there from the start,"

Mello sighed heavily, which caused Alice to falter her happiness. Why didn't he sound impressed? Even the others didn't have the same amount of enthusiasm as they did before.

"What?"

"Ace, we impounded the RV and had it searched. Every inch of the vehicle was examined, and there were no large amounts of money found." Near decided to break the bad news. Alice didn't want to believe it. She started to shake her head back and forth.

"That's not possible. He told me he hid it under his mattress."

"Shall we have a look then?" L kept the conversation from getting worse. Alice took the opportunity as a chance to prove them wrong, and she was determined to prove herself and her abilities.

"Let's go," She sat up from her chair. Matt and Mello gave each other a look that clearly showed they were skeptical. But they would give her the benefit of the doubt. Mello felt he needed some form of redemption, and trusting Alice was his start.

* * *

Surprisingly they didn't have to go far to get to the RV. Right in the back of the hotel there was a place for large trucks to deliver food to the kitchen. That's where they held the RV, just in case any of them felt they needed to look for some clues for the case. But Zeek's motor home was the least of their worries, so none of them had been compelled to look deep enough inside except for the bare minimum of the struggle that took place in the kitchen/living room. That's where the police force came in to finish the search.

So when they got to the RV, they started to wonder if maybe the police had forgotten to look under the mattress. Of course they were trained professionals, so the odds of that were highly unlikely. But Alice didn't seem to be worried. She trusted Doug, and if he did lie to her, then she would call upon some satanic ritual to send him to hell. Fair is fair, right?

"Here we are." Watari looked uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how the scene would play out, and he hated the thought of Alice being let down after she had come so far.

"It should be under his mattress," Alice stated again, taking the only two steps up. The door had been broken off, so there was nothing to stop her from walking inside. She immediately went for the back, trying to block out the memories of when Eric got shot along the way. When she reached the bedroom, she stopped to stare at the bed. It looked undisturbed, but that didn't mean the police haven't look. Most of the RV looked undisturbed anyway as if it was frozen in time. The only thing missing was the smell of the brownies baking. She slightly wondered what had happened to them. They probably turned out burnt since there was nobody to take them out of the oven. Thankful the RV didn't burn down.

"Well?" L turned up behind her. Alice felt his breath tickle her ear. He was close, seeing as how there wasn't much room in the first place. Catching her breath in her throat, she gave him a nod instead. She then slowly made her way over to the bed. She could feel her heart rate increase with each and every step she took. The boys filled the kitchen, each trying to look inside the room. Near stayed in the living room, not wanting to push his way through to see. He would hear them just fine anyway. Watari stayed with him. He still had the uncomfortable feeling sinking inside of his stomach. He just couldn't bring himself to look.

Alice slipped her hand under the mattress and felt around. She prayed she wouldn't find anything nasty, like porn or drugs. All she wanted to find was that duffle bag. It was a good size bag, so it shouldn't have been that hard to find. But after was seemed like a good five minutes, her search was going nowhere. The sweat of her forehead accumulated into think drops. Maybe this wasn't the mattress Doug was talking about. Maybe he had a different bed that she didn't know about.

_Oh god, she was going to be wrong! She was going to make a fool of herself!_

"Is it there?" Matt asked, causing Alice's eye to twitch.

"Just hold on!" She grumbled loudly, making her search more desperate. She was so close to bringing light to her world. If she could find this bag of money, then everyone was going to believe her. No more doubt, no more tests, and no more of those looks that make her feel guilty for being who she was. Nobody was going to call her a liar anymore and she would be able to go back home to the Wammy house with her head held up high. She would even be willing to tell the rest of the house about her abilities. All she had to do was find that bag. All she had to do was pull it out from under that mattress and show it off to the world with a big smile on her face.

_Lord, have mercy…please let her find it… _

When Alice's hand ran across a familiar texture, she almost wanted to burst out crying right then and there. She gripped onto it and tugged, feeling the handle of the bag jerk under the weight. As she forced it out from under the mattress, her whole body fell backwards, causing her to land on her butt and squeak out in pain. But it was all well worth it. Seeing the duffle bag on her lap made her even tear up a little. She had been right. Doug wasn't a liar. L moved faster than Alice had ever seen. He was kneeling next to her in a matter of seconds, already unzipping the bag on her lap. She let him do what he wanted, knowing full well her job was a success.

"This is…" L's surprised gasp made the whole ordeal for Alice that much more special.

"Holy shit," Mello walked into the tiny room, staring at the bag on her lap. Matt was gawking at it too, not able to take his eyes from the stacks of money that were threatening to pour out the bag. Near finally made an appearance in the doorway next to Matt, twirling a piece of his hair with more gusto. He still had on a neutral expression, but Alice could see it the light shine in his eyes.

"It looks like we had some defective agents search the vehicle." Near gave a glimpse of a smile. It was enough to make Alice grin from ear to ear.

"Watari," L called out to his friend.

"Yes sir?" Watari magically appeared behind Matt and Near.

"Have the staff fired and rehire a more reliable team. One that will not miss the simple act of checking under a bed."

Alice's smile only grew.

"Right away sir," Watari bowed, and he was off out the RV as quick as a bullet.

Even though the scene was just as Alice imagined, the moment Mello spoke was what made it all come together. They were simple words, but they meant the world to her. If there was ever a perfect moment that Alice could dream about, it would be this. The moment where she was truly accepted.

"Ace, I believe you."

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!**  
**

**Ironicsheep, ****chocolatxdoll**, **MsBlondiePunch**, **xGrellSutcliffx**, **Karen**, **blackstar778**, **Saber Amane**, **SpringBorn**, **hauarie**, **Crazyinabottle**, **Sofia10Soccer**, **g-minor-art**, **KiyUzumaki**, **Kashagal and Natures Ruler**, and **wolf neko**. (Thank you all for your reviews! PONY'S FOR EVERYONE!)**  
**

**Invincible Shadow: **So close! Okay, I got this one...There are many crafters who make things and do not use their products, but the second half of the riddle makes it more difficult. There are only two ways for the user to not know they are using it, and that would be either under some sever medical condition such as alzheimer's or in a coma, or death. So the answer could be either certain forms of medication or the coffins the dead are buried in. **  
**

**ShnieseAce: **I love all kinds of cookies! Thank you!**  
**

**Yumeno: **I finally made the Black forest cake, and it was absolutely delicious! I loved the combination of the cherries and the light cream frosting. As for the Opera, I'm going to save that recipe for later, after I've had more practice. I'm sure it's an amazing pastry, so I will keep it in mind for later. Florida was beautiful! It was so humid! I could feel the water in the air, as if I walking through a wall of vapor. But the beaches made the humidity well worth it!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Wow this riddle is fancy. Give me a moment to take it in. *Thinks long and hard* I can not for the life of me, come up with an answer for this. What is it?**  
**

**Speckles719: **I do not have any nut allergy's, so I'm okay with using those ingredients, however I often do not use them in case I offer my treats to people who do. Better safe then sorry. As for my preferences, I love all bakes goods. I'm particularly good at making cookies, but occasionally I'll bake a cake or some bread. I love banana bread! As for those Blondies...BRILLIANT! They were so soft and tasted like a Greek God riding his chariot over my tongue (Too weird of a metaphor?). Thank you for the recipe!**  
**

**Angel Ayame: **Thank you so much! I fixed the problem right away!**  
**

**bluekitty8: **Welcome to Fan-Fiction! I'm so happy you could join this wonderful community!**  
**

**WannWan Chan: **Wow, I did not know. I think most people believe Matt is taller is because in the anime he looks more long and lean, unlike Mello. In my opinion, its more amusing for Mello to have a hot temper and be shorter then his friend. But in my story the height difference isn't by much, maybe an inch or two.**  
**

**freaksforever: **Your little sister sounds amazing, lol! Did you have fun at your graduation? Anybody trip while going to get their diplomas? =)**  
**


	51. I wont give up

**THE BIG 50!  
**

"Wisty, are you stupid? this is chapter 51."

Yes, I know, but If I haven't made myself clear before,

I do not count my Halloween chapter.

So...

For me, this is my 50th chapter!

Another important message I wanted to tell you was the inspiration for this chapter.

I've recently become obsessed with the song _"I wont give up"_ by _Jason Mraz_

It was that song, that inspired me to write this chapter, so thank you _Jason_ for your wonderful music!

Enjoy!

And yes, you do not have to remind me that the song is overplayed. I love it all the same.

_(Disclaimer: For all my peeps out there in your yellow candy coated crusts, I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**I wont give up  
**

Alice felt like she was on cloud nine. High above the earth's atmosphere where the wind was subtle and the birds couldn't reach her. She felt euphoric. As if she had an hour's mediation session with her old yoga instructor. She had worked so hard to win the trust of the Wammy house, and in just those few moments of finding the duffle bag, it all seemed to come together. They finally believed her.

"I can't believe this." Matt adjusted his goggles as he came out of the RV. Everyone else was already outside, looking at the duffle bag with a more critical eye. L was squatting over it, picking up bills as if they were filthy. Near was poking around the smaller pockets, analyzing any DNA samples he could find. He had a kit next to him with a bunch of plastic baggies and jars. He was swabbing some of the fabric with a Q-tip. Mello was watching over their shoulders, trying to get a good view of the bag itself.

"I told you guys. The bag was under the mattress, just like Doug said." Alice had on a smug smile.

"This is amazing." Matt ran his hand through his ruffled hair. "How do you…? What do they look like?"

"The ghosts?" Alice raised an eyebrow. Matt nodded his head. "They look like you and me. The only difference is they're dead and they can walk through walls."

"Wicked,"

"Matt," Mello had an authoritative voice. "We need to get to work."

Alice felt a rush of blood to her cheeks. They just found out she could communicate with the dead, and they wanted to work on the case? She thought her gift would hold more intrigue. It wasn't everyday one could run into a psychic.

"What's our next move?" Matt started towards Mello.

"Wait!" Alice had to interrupt. "You all put me through hell and back just to prove my abilities to communicate with the dead, and now that you finally believe me, you want to work and pretend like nothing has happened?"

"That's not true Ace." L finally stepped away from the bag. He felt Near had the capability to finish the job without his help. "We find your supernatural gifts to be astounding."

Alice pressed her lips together. "Well, thank you," her gratitude was a bit precautious.

"Shall we get back to work now?" Mello was becoming impatient. Alice felt her eye twitch. Luckily L seemed to be on her side still.

"Wait one moment Mello. I believe you owe Ace here an explanation."

"What are you talking about?"

The light bulb turned on over Alice's head, and she remembered what L was referring to.

"That's right! You said L was going to kill me!"

Both Matt's and Mello's faces went pale. L stepped around the duffle bag and walked over to Alice's side.

"My feelings were quiet hurt." He put his hands into his pockets. The blood came rushing back to Mello's cheeks, and he glared angrily at L. Alice crossed her arms and clicked her tongue.

"So you want to give me some answers?" She tapped her foot.

"Can't we talk about this later?" Mello turned away with his fists clenched tight. Alice could see the veins on his neck, as if he was holding back more anger than usual. But that didn't scare her away from wanting to know the truth.

"Absolutely not," she put her foot down. Mello growled under his breath. Matt thankfully stepped in to be the voice of reason.

"Could we at least have this discussion in privet? I promise to explain everything once we are inside."

Alice had a moment to think over his proposition. She could have let them suffer by saying no, but seeing Mello in such a state was enough to change her mind. He already looked like he suffering enough.

"Fine."

"Perfect, shall we go then?" Matt grabbed Mello's shoulder. Mello's frustration took him to a point where he was even considering tearing Matt's arm off. But he kept his temper down, and let Matt guide him back to the hotel.

Alice gave one last look to L to thank him, and she was on her way. The questions kept formulating inside her mind. The thrill of the unknown was playing with her heart and making it flutter. She just had to know the reason.

* * *

Alice was comfortably sitting on a sofa inside one of the hotel rooms. She wondered if there were any guests there at all, because they seemed to be using every room in the building. She hadn't even seen that many employees walking around. It was as if the hotel was abandoned.

"Well this is awkward…" Matt rubbed his arm. He was sitting on an armchair across from her, looking as if he could get up at any moment and flee. He was on the edge of his seat, fiddling with the sleeve on his shirt. Mello was leaning against the armrest on Matt's chair, looking at the floor. He obviously didn't want to be there, but Alice wasn't going to let him go so easily.

"So who wants to start first?" Alice initiated the first step.

Mello didn't make any attempts to speak, so it all fell onto Matt's shoulders. He didn't mind, but he couldn't help feeling hesitant to talk about the Wammy house's past.

"Alright," Matt sighed. "We honestly had a good reason for calling L a killer."

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"You see, he…" Matt paused, trying to come up with a way to explain it without making it sound ridiculous.

"His name was Beyond Birthday." Mello surprisingly took the reins.

"Pardon?"

"There were six individuals that were the original members of the Wammy house. L and Beyond Birthday were part of those six."

"What does this have to do with your assumption of L being…?"

"I believed L would repeat the same crimes as Beyond."

Alice was a bit speechless, noticing how serious Mello expression was. His brows were furrowed together, and his jaw looked as if it was flexing. There was something in his eyes Alice couldn't identify, but it looked searing; as intense as a burning flame.

"What crimes?" her voice almost turned into a whisper. That's when Mello reached for his rosary around his neck. He held onto it as if he were waiting for it to sink into his hand. Matt gave him a concerning look, but he dared not speak a word. Taking a deep shaky breath, Mello prepared himself for the long story. If he could survive a lengthy battle with his boss, then he was sure he could reminisce about the past. Sinking into her seat, Alice listened intently to every word Mello spoke.

The story seemed to open up Alice's mind and play a movie inside her head. It was long and sometimes hard to listen to, but she stuck it out till the end. Matt occasionally had to step in when parts of the story were too tough for Mello to handle. Mello would just look away and hide whatever facial expression he had on. Alice was left to wonder what Mello was thinking. By the time the explanation was coming to an end, Alice had completely lost her voice. Not too long ago she visited Maria's grave with Mello. She witnessed Mello first hand with his deceased close friend, and at the time it meant nothing to her but simple curiosity. She even joked about the rosary which by now she was regretting. She couldn't believe the Wammy house could have such a past, nor could she believe somebody from the Wammy house could cause such pain. It just didn't seem possible. Everyone there now was so kind and affectionate. Even Miss Jane, the housekeeper, was nice once in a while. She just couldn't imagine a killer ever coming from such a loving home.

"So you see," Matt continued with the explanation. Mello was done talking all together. "The reason we thought the past would repeat itself was because all the signs were pointing in that direction. Everything that L did, Beyond had done the same. Almost to a tee,"

"You thought L was going got kill me…because Beyond killed Maria?"

Hearing it out loud, Matt could see how ridiculous it sounded. But at the time, it made perfect sense to him. Now he could see how stupid he and Mello had really been. But then again, the odds were never in his favor. When Alice told him she could speak to the dead, he never even considered the thought she was telling the truth. It all seemed so farfetched. But now it was as clear as day.

"Yes," Matt sighed heavily.

The story of Maria certainly brought her sorrow, but the thought of L doing anything remotely similar just wanted to make her laugh. She could never see L doing anything heartless to the people he cared about, assuming he cared for her. She couldn't be hundred percent sure about that.

"That's ridiculous, and where in the world did you ever get the idea of L and myself having some sort of fling?"

"You're kidding right?" Mello came out of his secluded shell to join the conversation. Alice was startled by his sudden abrasiveness. "Do you really not see the way he looks at you?"

"You mean the neutral creepy stare he gives to everyone?"

When both boys sighed at the same time, Alice started to become more nervous. Were they trying to make her believe another lie?

"No Ace," Matt stepped in this time. "Not that look. The one that so obvious, even a blind man could point it out."

"I don't know what you guys are talking about." She shook her head. Mello rolled his eyes, making Alice look like she was the fool in the room. She gave Mello a heated glare and stood up from the sofa.

"Listen Ace, I know we were being idiots before, but this time we are telling the truth." Matt stood up with her, only much more graceful and poised.

"L couldn't think of me in that way." Alice's cheeks started turning red. "I don't think he can even feel emotions like those."

"He's only human." Matt started to smile. Seeing her baffled just made him want to laugh. He's seen her flustered before, but this time was different. It was a heck of a lot more entertaining to watch. Even Mello was starting to enjoy it.

"The guy has some sick puppy dog look every time he see's you."

That only seemed to fluster her more. "That can't be true. He's…L is…he's not…"

"Face it babe," Matt finally got comfortable enough to go back to his old nickname for her. "He's fallen for you, and hard."

Alice had nothing more to say. The realization of it all just came crashing down on her. They were very serious, and in the back of her mind, she knew it to be true. She may have been ignoring it before, but L did occasionally give her looks that made her heart flutter. It was only now she realized the meaning behind those looks, and she still wasn't quite sure what to feel. What was she suppose to feel? Her whole life she dealt with the undead, so romance was always on the backburner. Sure she had relationships in the past, but she honestly never took them seriously. She was flirt and a horrible commitment. Her relationships never lasted, and for good reason. To be honest, it wasn't L who she thought couldn't feel the emotion of love, but herself. She was a lost cause to love. The emotion was a stranger to her, much like the many dead she spoke too. Half the time she even believed she belonged with the spirits she spoken too, because those where the individuals she interacted with the most.

She felt a knot growing inside of her stomach. It was painful and made her feel like throwing up. She couldn't do this to L. She couldn't lead him on to think she would be good for him, because she knew nothing would come of their relationship. Much like the past, if she were to accept L's feelings, she had no doubt in her mind she would end the relationship out of fear or just plain stupidity. And then she would lose the closest friend she had. She didn't want to lose L. She wanted the famous happy ending of returning to the Whammy house and making things the way they were before; when everything was perfect.

"Are you okay Ace?" Matt's smirk vanished after seeing her cheeks flush. Her skin went so white, he could have mistaken her for a ghost.

"No…no," her voice grew horse. She had to find out if it was true. There still could have been a chance L didn't feel that way, but the only way to find out was to ask him herself. So without even giving reason to her actions, she bolted out the room. Matt was about to chase after her, but Mello grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Leave her," he grunted, letting go of his arm. Matt swallowed and looked at the door she ran out. He worried, but Mello was right. There was nothing more he could do. He would just have to wait and see what happens.

* * *

Watari put the last file away where it rightfully belonged. He was packing them up to send back to the Wammy house, so Roger could copy them to the main computer. That way they would have two sets of copies for each file. It was a system they had been using for years, and it was a well organized one. Watari did worry when the time came for him to depart from this earth, because he knew L wasn't the most organized. He feared the filing system would become chaotic, much like the desk L was working on at the moment. It was covered in tiny plates and tea cups. Crumbs littered the floor around him and papers were scattered about in an array of disorder that Watari could only describe as some form of filthy hell. He felt compelled to go over there and clean, but he knew L didn't like to be disturbed when he was working. Cleaning would be a distraction. So Watari had to take deep breaths and try to distract himself with other chores. Near wasn't there to help distract him since he was working with the forensics team, and Alice would have made for a perfect distraction, but she was busy with Matt and Mello.

The door was suddenly slammed open and Alice came walking in with a flushed complexion. Watari was so startled that he even dropped the box he finished sealing with tape. The loud thump made L turn away from his computer. Seeing Alice's white skin and exhausted physical state made L go on high alert. Something was wrong, and he got the feeling it was directed at him.

"L, do you like me?" She was the first to speak. Watari almost gapped at the straightforward question. This certainly was a distraction, but not the kind he wanted to happen. He quickly looked to L to see how he was coping.

"Of course I like you. I certainly wouldn't have wasted my time saving you if I didn't like you."

"No, I mean do you really like me, as in more than just friends?"

"Forgive me, but I don't seem to understand what you are asking."

Alice swallowed what little moisture she had left and made sure to look him in the eye. "Do you want to have a romantic relationship with me? Do you love me?"

That seemed to make the whole room go quiet. L looked stuck, as if he was jammed with an overload of information. There were so many thoughts circling his mind, that even with the room being eerily quiet, it felt noisy to him. His natural instinct was telling him to shutdown and become a robot, much like what he would revert to in the past. But this time he couldn't quite bring himself to do so. He was at the end of his rope with excuses. He was getting tired of always having to put on a show. And it wasn't as if he could lie to her. He's never lied to her before in the past, and he wasn't about to now.

"Watari, if you wouldn't mind. I would like to have some privacy with Ace."

"Yes sir." Watari bowed. He was slightly disappointed he couldn't stay, but in the end he knew there wasn't anything he could do to help L. He only hoped there would be happy ending for the two.

L watched Watari leave the room and shut the door behind him. It was then only Alice and L left, making the energy in the room feel even more awkward. L may have made the decision to be honest, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous about it. This was new territory for him. He's never had any experience or practice on how to deal with love confessions. What was he suppose to say? Should he just outright say his inner most feelings to her. No, that would be embarrassing. He wasn't that type of character anyway.

"Tell me the truth L. I need to know." She sounded like she was getting more desperate. L picked up on her mood and started to wonder why she was getting emotional. Was it something he said? Or maybe she was waiting for him to answer so she could reject him. Maybe she was upset at the thought of L liking her. She looked sick, as if the thought of him liking her made her want to puke. Did she really find him to be that disgusting?

"Ace, I'm sorry," he said. It was the only way he could express his feelings and try and make up for the way he upset her.

"Is that a yes?" She took a step closer.

"I could not lie to you, you are to assume correctly."

He waited to hear what she would say, but when she didn't give him an answer, he started to feel even worse. Why was she delaying it? Why won't she just reject him already and get it over with? If she still wanted his friendship, then he would give it to her without question. He just wanted this moment to be done and over with. He never thought he would ever feel defeat, but he knew he should have never been so cocky. He was only human after all. It's human nature to fail.

Alice opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it again. What was she suppose to say? L just confessed to her without even looking remotely flustered or unwary. He looked confidant with his statement, even if he was hunched over in his chair, gnawing on his thumb. What feelings did she even have for him? Were they real or just her mind playing tricks on her? What did falling in love feel like anyway? L sure seemed to know, and Alice was jealous of that. The confusion of it all was starting to overtake her emotions. Her eyes were getting tired from not blinking, and she couldn't even focus on L anymore. Her vision went south to the floor.

When L noticed that one teardrop come crashing to the floor, his heart momentarily stopped. What had he done? He's made her cry yet again, and this time it felt like a knife was being stab through his heart. His thumb dropped from his mouth and he quickly stood up. Alice wiped it away as fast as she could to try and hide it, but it was too late. She's caused L to worry once again, and she just felt awful. There was no stopping him from shuffling over to her to try and comfort her. She was truly making the situation worse by getting emotional. Hadn't L suffered enough after she deliberately ran away?

"My intensions were not to make you cry," L sounded stricken.

"It's not you L!" Alice gave in to her emotions. It was the dreaded line L had read about in many research books. The line of _"It's not you, it's me"_. It was the most common break up line, and L waited patiently for the slap on the face. "It's me…" her voice started to fade. L cringed internally.

"I understand,"

"No L!" Alice got a hold of his attention. He was startled by how sudden her outburst was. Finally he was looking her in the eyes, and there was something more to her sadness that he couldn't quite point out. "I'm not the type of person who can commit. You deserve better. "

The last line threw L through a loop. Was this a test? Did he really hear her right? Out of all the possibilities to reject him, she comes up with her status being under par? That was utterly ridiculous. If anything, it should be L who does not live up to the expectations of her class. She was bubbly and cheerful. She could talk to anyone and be their friend. She was a social butterfly, while L was the groundhog, hiding in his hole for the winter. He just couldn't believe what she was saying.

"I find your reasoning to be lacking evidence."

Alice snorted with a pained expression. If he wanted evidence, she had plenty to give.

"In the past, all my relationships have failed. I left them all because I couldn't keep myself grounded. I've hurt a lot of people and I don't want you to be a part of that list."

"So you feel history will repeat itself…"

Alice looked away with tears threatening to fall. She hated it. She hated hurting him. He may have looked calm, but that didn't mean he wasn't upset on the inside.

"Don't you find that line to be a contradiction?" L continued. Alice didn't know what he was talking about. It made perfect sense to her. "Didn't Matt and Mello have these same theories of their own about me? They believed I was out to kill you, which in fact was not true."

"But this is different," Alice tried to argue.

"Not at all, my feelings for you have nothing to do with your past. Much like Beyond and myself have nothing in common."

"Do you even know what love is? Are you even sure you're in love with me?" Alice changed her argument. She was getting nowhere with the last one.

"The emotion is still quiet new to me, but that isn't to say I don't understand it. I've done plenty of research. I would have never come to this conclusion if I haven't done the work to prove its legibility. And trust me; I went through a lot of hypothesis." L thought back to his moments of research. After clarifying his love for her on the day they came home from Paris, he wanted to be sure of his feelings. So he must have read every book, magazine, and news article known to man about the emotion. There was no denying it, he was in love.

"What kind of research could you possibly do? Love isn't something you can read from a book!"

"Is that so? Then could explain it to me?"

Alice didn't have an answer for him. She didn't know what love felt like. What was difference between caring about a friend as oppose to caring for a partner? Alice rubbed her forehead and bit her tongue. What was she trying to argue at this point? She could just reject him and forget the whole mess happened. L would still be her friend, right?

L noticed her struggle. She was conflicted. Hoping maybe he could help, he started to think back to his research.

"Recently I read a book by Katie Moon who works for a prestigious university. Her work was insightful."

Alice kept her gaze to the floor, listening to his every word, but not giving him the chance to see her pained expression. He continued on.

"She used a metaphor that I believe will help you to understand. She explained love to be like a new born child; Ignorant to world and always searching for answers. By the time the baby is ready to learn to walk, they don't always just get up on their own and magically take their first few steps. They require a helping hand to guide them."

Alice stopped biting her tongue, and her features relaxed into a more neutral expression. Was L really giving her a lecture on what love was?

"It takes both partners to make the relationship work, much like the guiding hand for the child. I don't know what happened to your past relationships to cause them to end, but that doesn't mean you should give up on trying to walk."

Alice became speechless. This was L! L was seriously giving her a lesson about love! Since when did their roles flip? When did L become knowledgeable about these pop culture feelings? Why was she the one to get the lecture? Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

"I…" Alice tried to speak, but she felt like her brain had turned off. She was still trying to comprehend L's explanation.

"Was my explanation unclear? I could refer to another source if you like."

"No," Alice shook her head. "I just need some time to think this over…"

"Alright," L didn't argue. Alice took a step back, keeping her eyes to the floor the entire time. She couldn't look at L. She felt ashamed, at the same time humiliated. She was delaying her rejection, but she couldn't help it. She didn't want to disappoint him. But by delaying the answer, she knew she was making him suffer even more. No matter what she did, she was just making things worse. And here she thought everything was going back to the way things were. How could she be so foolish? Marching out the door, she turned left and sought out a room where she could be alone. She needed time to clear her head. She needed to find the courage to tell him no. She also needed to find the courage not to cry.

* * *

Night seemed to have come quickly. The crickets came out and the stars twinkled to a rhythm only they seemed to understand. Alice was still alone in her room she found just two floors up. When she found it, she didn't even consider knocking or asking if anybody was occupying it. The hotel was empty anyway, so she didn't have to worry about barging in on someone. In fact, she probably had the entire second floor all to herself. Everyone else was either on the first floor or in the basement.

She didn't bother to turn on any of the lights. She got plenty of light from the moon. It was a clear summer's night sky. She would have appreciated the beauty of it all, had she not been wallowing in her own misery. Her hands had run through her hair so many times, there was evidence of clumps on the floor. She didn't know what she was waiting for. The longer she stayed in the room, the worse her nausea got. All she had to do was confront L and tell him their relationship wouldn't work. Why was she making it out to be so damn difficult?

She groaned loudly and tried to relieve the pressure building up in her head. She was so distracted by her growing headache, that she almost didn't notice the bed shift under her.

"What's got you down child?" The deep undertone of his voice filled her ears. She didn't have to look up to know it was Jim, her newest ghost friend. She wasn't even surprised to see him. For some odd reason, her whole life has been filled with the undead coming to her aid, even when it was supposed to be her job to help them. She appreciated their help, but sometimes they made things worse. Luckily this time she felt Jim would be more useful than most. He seemed a lot wiser then the majority of the ghosts she's encountered.

"I don't know what to do."

"Well now, that there's a first,"

Alice shoved her face into the palms of her hands. She wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

"What should I say? How do I reject him?"

"You're talking about that L feller, aren't you?"

Alice nodded her head without letting it go. She felt safe under the darkness. And hearing Jim's voice was enough to satisfy her. It was like listening to a long lost grandfather she would have spent days with, just reminiscing about his past. It was soothing, much like enjoying classical music and drinking warm honey tea. She could even smell the fresh fields of cotton.

"Well, do you like him?"

Alice escaped her darkened cave and gave Jim a look. "Of course I like him!" She felt insulted. Jim wasn't offended in the least. Instead, he continued his advice.

"Then why would you reject him? There ain't nothin' wrong with the boy,"

"But that's just it!" Alice stood up, feeling even more frustrated. She thought Jim was going to be helpful, and the fact that he didn't seem to understand the dilemma of it all just made her more upset and confused. "There isn't anything wrong with him! He's perfect, and he deserves someone who's just as perfect!"

"Now that's a bunch of hog wash." Jim waved her off. "Since when are you such a fraidy cat?"

"Fraidy cat? I don't know what you're talking about." She crossed her arms.

"Ah, what about all those adventures you had. You helped that friend of yours. I'd say that took some guts. Seemed nothing was going to scare you, not even the thought of death."

Alice relaxed her tense muscles. Her mouth went soft and her eyes lost the sharp sting that followed. When she thought back to how she was able to save Zeek, she couldn't help feeling proud.

"I hope you know you almost got me killed in that warehouse." Alice started to smirk.

"Nah, you's was fine. I saved your life. You wouldn't have made it out of that cage if it wasn't for me."

"So that was you!" Alice gasped. She knew he was the one to lead her to that room, but she didn't know he was also the one to unlock her makeshift prison cell.

"Yes ma'am,"

"Well, then I should thank you."

"Ain't nothing." He giddily smiled while scratching his beard. Alice kept her smile for a minute longer until she was reminded of her little problem.

"Hey Jim?" she called while looking towards the window. The moon was bright, and she was able to see some shadows of birds fly by.

"Hm?"

"That crow myth you told me earlier. Are there any number of crows that signifies love?"

Jim gave her a hearty laugh in return. "That's silly child, crows don't represent love. It's them dove's."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She gave him a pity laugh. The disappointment didn't go unnoticed by Jim.

"What's got you so scared?" He leaned closer to her.

Alice didn't have an answer for him. She had to think about the question as if it was a debate on the meaning of life. She didn't have a clue of what she was afraid of. Jim had brought up a good point earlier. She was a daredevil. She wasn't ever afraid to do anything. She ran away from home and snuck on a train with a hobo. She lived in a broken down barn for three months because she thought it was cool to finally be alone. When she met Watari, she didn't even care what he might think about her psychic gift. She had been so happy to be free, that she was willing to share her abilities with anyone. Watari just so happened to be the first costumer. And she couldn't forget when she was accepted into the Wammy house. She met so many new friends that truly thought she was something special. She had so many crazy adventures with them all, that she couldn't even count them on her fingers and toes. And all of this happened in the course of merely a few months time. She even went to Paris and blew up a ship for Christ's sake! Out of all the stupid things she's done that seriously put her in danger, the one that scares her the most is having L like her? What was wrong with her?

"I'm afraid of losing him…" She seemed to finally admit to herself. That was what she was truly afraid of. She knew L on a personal level, even though they had not known each other for long. It was long enough for her to know L was an antisocial narcissist who occasionally had something nice to say. He was confident when he needed to be, and shy when there was nothing left to be confident about. He had very few friends, and had never even thought of the opposite sex until she came around. So the fact that he's fallen for a girl who's known for playing around and breaking hearts surely was not one of his greatest achievements. She could easily break him, and that's what terrified her. He trusted her too much, and she barely had any trust for herself. She could never guarantee he could have a happy life with her. Just look at the past few cases they worked on together. She gave him lip almost every moment they had been together. She defied him on more than one occasion, and even spent his money like a gold-digger. How in the hell did he ever find her appealing?

"How could you lose him? Love ain't about loss. It's about soul, and what keeps it happy. There are few things in life that can keep your soul happy, and two of the biggest are food and love. Don't you forget that," he wagged his finger.

"But what if I hurt him? What if I hurt his so called _soul_? He would suffocate himself in cake!" Alice threw up her arms.

"What's the point in thinking about a future that you can't see? You may be psychic child, but that don't mean you can see what lies ahead. Do you really want to have regrets about not giving it try?"

Alice relished over the thought, her mind making dozens of scenarios in her head. Some were joyful to watch, others ended in heartbreak and misery. But none of them seemed to make her world crumble. In fact, the earth was still spinning and the birds would eventually sing again. Why had she never thought about it before? Jim was right again. She would regret rejecting him. She could envision her rejections over and over again, and each time she did, she could see herself crying after each horrific scene. It was why she was stuck up on the second floor for so long in the first place. She didn't want to reject him, because the heartbreak seemed worse than the one she thought she would give L later on in the relationship. Her whole world seemed to change at that point.

"I don't want to regret it…" A tear escaped from her eye. Jim's smile turned warm, making the moonlight in the room feel like the sun's rays. Even though it was dark out and the crickets were singing, she was still able to make out the sound a chirp. It sang a soft tune, much like the smile upon Jim's lips. Looking out the window, a lone tree stood high and proud, each branch filled with new born spring leafs. Perched upon one of the branches stood a white bird, so easily disguisable among the black background. It ruffled its feathers and cocked its head to the side, looking at Alice as if to say, "What are you waiting for?"

But it was Jim who had actually spoken those words out loud, and brought her back to the room. Seeing the dove was a sign. She believed heavily in karma and destiny, and this moment was the answer she had been looking for. Fate was telling her what to do, and she wouldn't waste a minute longer in that room.

"Thank you Jim!" She jumped off that bed.

"I'm always here for you child," he waved goodbye, fading away into a thin cloud while she ran out the room. She didn't even know if her feet were touching the ground. She ran down those stairs because the elevator was not going to be fast enough. By the time she reached the basement, everything had turned into a blur. The only clear focus she had was the room L was working in. It didn't take her long to find it and make a dramatic entrance.

When Alice came bursting through that door, L nearly had a heart attack. It had been a long time since their last conversation, and in the back of his mind, he had hoped she would wait until tomorrow to give him an answer. He wanted her to think over his feelings carefully before coming to a drastic conclusion. At least then when she rejected him, he would at least have the pleasure of knowing she cared enough to think it over seriously. But seeing her come in seemed too soon.

Near was back in the room as well, and he was just as startled as L was. Of course, he had the comfort of dominos surrounding him on the floor, so at least he could quickly stack a wall and calm himself down. But seeing Alice with such an exasperated form, made him pause midway with his tower. She seemed a lot more lively then the last time he saw her. Her eyes looked like they would bulge out of her head, her hair was an untamed mess, giving her a more animalist appearance, and her clothes looked wrinkled and worn. Needless to say, she was a complete mess.

Sitting on the beds were Matt and Mello, who recently took out the yellow raft. So the room was finally big enough to hold them all together. But when Alice barged in, they both had to pause their work. They thought she had run away again. They had found out about L and Alice's little soap opera scene, so they wondered if it was enough to scare Alice away. Apparently it wasn't, since she was gasping loudly in front of the doorway.

Alice's first few steps were shaky, but once she got her momentum going, she picked up the pace. She didn't care who else was in that room. The only person she saw was L.

"L," she said his name with such exhaust. She was in front of him in seconds, looking down as he sat in his chair with his knees to his chin. L was speechless. The only practical human bodily function he could do was breath. The rest of his instincts were put on hold.

"I don't want to regret my decision." She began. Her voice already sounding like it was chocking up. "My friend Jim who was a slave in the 1800's gave me some advice, and after thinking over your confession, I came to the conclusion that Jim was right. I was a cat…I mean, I was afraid. I was cat who was afraid to be with you because then I thought I would lose you! And I asked him if crows could mean love, but he told that doves were the true meaning of love, and I saw a dove L! I saw a dove! Destiny was telling me that it was okay to be a cat! That I shouldn't just give up because I'm scared! I can't see the future, and the only way to make my soul happy is through food and love!"

L desperately tried to follow her logic. Matt and Mello were just trying to understand her quick speech. She was talking so fast, that they could only catch a few words at a time. Near seemed like the only one who was brave enough to talk after her pause for breath.

"Did you say you were a cat?"

By now, Alice didn't even know what she was saying. She had been so caught up in the moment, that she didn't even realize she was talking nonsense.

"That's not what I meant to say." She rubbed her forehead.

"Take a deep breath Ace." L found his voice. Alice took his advice and filled her lungs with oxygen. She exhaled slowly and rewired her brain so she could give him a proper response.

"I want to give us a try."

"And by us…do you mean…?" L waited for her to finish his question.

"A relationship." She was short and to the point. She should have tried that tactic in the first place, but her mind still felt like a Rubik's cube.

"I see." L sounded out of breath. He had to turn away, just so he could take a moment for himself to assess the situation. Alice had just accepted his feelings. Not in a million years did he ever imagine the outcome to be like this. He believed the percentage level of Alice saying yes was less than 0.01%. He honestly didn't know what to say at that point. Of course he was happy beyond his wildest dreams, but how was he going to express that to her? Should he thank her? Should he share some of his cake with her? He could give her the strawberry, which was his favorite part. Would that be sufficient?

"Don't get me wrong though," Alice made L discontinue his thoughts. "I'm still not sure what love is like, and it might take me some time to get used to the idea of us together. But I'm willing to accept your helping hand." A small smile played at her lips. L was thrilled to hear she used his metaphor for her analogy in her confession. It meant she had listened to what he said and understood, all at the same time. That didn't happen too often between them, and it was a sign that showed they would surely work as a close team in the near future. At least, that was what he envisioned.

"Yes, of course. I don't expect any kind of rush. I find it more comforting anyway to take things slow."

Alice let out her nervous sigh and smiled even wider. She liked this a lot better than the idea of having to reject him. Her heart and soul were defiantly more at ease, and she was even starting to feel giddy about the idea of being closer to L. Maybe the love thing wasn't going to be so bad.

"Are you two going to make out or something?" Matt raised his hand in question. Alice's smile immediately dropped and her cheeks turned a powerful red.

"No!" She tuned to him sharply and squeaked.

"Certainly not. We still have quite a bit of work ahead of us, and it would be most helpful if we were not giving into to our sexual desires."

Alice crossed her arms and nodded her head to agree with L. But when she sat down on the chair next to him, she raised an eyebrow after having second thoughts.

"You've been having sexual desires?"

L immediately stuck a piece of cake into his mouth so he couldn't answer her question. Matt gave a whoop of laugher, filling the whole room with a much needed stress reliever. The tension in the room seemed to subside as quickly as it came. Life couldn't have gotten any better than that.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**SpringBorn, hikari-hime 01, Hauarieistoolazytosignin, AnonMouse524, chocolatxdoll, MsBlondiePunch, Angel Ayame, xGrellSutcliffx, LawlietMilkshake, chabitso.0, tootsiepop101, Crazyinabottle, ShnieseAce, Ironicsheep, XBloodMageRikaX, blackstar778, KiyUzumaki, Vsat101, mrs-Sora-sparrow, Saber Amane, Kaiyira, Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit, Tsukino Aisuru - A, freaksforever **(NICE!)**, jssjessica, Ari the Amazing, and bob. **(Can we all just raise a glass to how awesome we all are? I mean, we just completed 50 chapters! And yes, I do mean we. I could have never done this without you, so congratulations everyone for a job well done! Here here! *Clink*)**  
**

**Invincible Shadow: **Why thank you! Hmm, three consecutive days.., so...maybe some holidays that come 3 days in a row...like...fudge day (June 16th), Fathers day (June 17th), and Garfield the Cat day (June 18th)? And if you are wondering, those are real holidays...I do not lie. xD**  
**

**torixx3: **Yay for making our friends obsessed with Death Note! I always love to convert the innocent to the dark side. =D**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Oh that was a good one! I liked that riddle! Okay, on to the next, and I know this one! It's a penny!**  
**

**In the Shadow of Light: **I'm so touched that my story would be your first review! Thank you so much! You don't know who much that means to me! **  
**

**Bow Down To Gir: **No need for apologies. Whether you review for every chapter, or wait every ten chapters, your reviews are always special to me. The twitching is a wonderful sign. It means my story has the toxic effect of involuntarily moving your body in tiny unconscious spasms, which makes me a very happy author. Thank you for the congratulations!**  
**

**Speckles719: **You don't know how yummy that recipe sounds! But unfortunately, I've never worked with alcohol in my baking before, and I don't think my first try should be making it catch on fire. But don't get me wrong! I hope you don't mind I hold onto it for future use. My baking skills are still on the verge of being amateurish, so I think I should avoid blazing fires until I've had more practice. But Thank you so much for the recipe! I could defiantly make the cookies without any trouble. Shortbread if F*% ing awesome! By the way, my family loved the blondies so much, they ordered me to make another batch the next day...xD**  
**

**Ramen Pizza Teacup: **Request has been analyzed and will be taken into consideration. And by consideration, I do mean used to its fullest potential. I will defiantly add more fluff and shenanigans!**  
**

**g-minor-art: **LOL, back in chapter 48 (The Great Escape), there was a small cut scene where Alice pressed one of the buttons on her bracelet, and a raft inflated where L and Near were working. It was a small scene, so its understandable if you don't remember. I could have probably written that scene better anyway. Ninja pony's...I want one. You must teach me the ways of how to train these pony's!**  
**

**Beloved Little Bit: **THANK YOU for finding those mistakes! I fixed them right away!**  
**


	52. Very First Date

OH EM GEE!

Over 1,000 reviews!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

*Starts to sob*

Thank you! *Sniffle* Thank you all so much!

I don't deserve such amazing fantastical people like you!

I need a tissue...

You probably shouldn't look at me, I am a MESS!

Enjoy the chappy!

**P.S.** Those who celebrated independence day in America, hope you had a fun filled fireworks display! I got to see a lot of big booms...that made me happy. =D

**P.S.S.** ANOTHER TRANSLATION! The link is on my profile, so send your appreciation to _atalayak _for translating my story into Polish!

_(Disclaimer: I have over 1,000 reviews suckers! I own all! Except for Death Note...)_

* * *

**Very First Date**

"So I thought we got the bad guys…what more do we have to do?" Alice scratched her head. They were all in the hotel room, each one working on something of their own with either a computer, PSP, or paperwork. Watari had returned after Alice made her big confession to L, and he was later told of the ordeal. Surprisingly Watari had pulled her aside so they could chat in privet. In the privacy of another room, Watari gave her the most endearing bear hug she had ever received. She had never seen him so happy with her before. Watari in no way thought L would find someone on a romantic level, and knowing that L and Alice were going to be a couple just blew his mind. He needed to show his appreciation to her, and he also wanted to congratulate her as well. So he hugged her. Alice was moved by the hug, and she almost got too emotional, but she reminded herself that the relationship was still new, and it wasn't set in stone. So Watari could have been giving her a useless congratulation. But bad thinking aside, she appreciated the gesture anyway.

So when they returned, Alice was greeted by the sounds of L giving orders to Matt and Mello. Apparently the case they had been working on with the drug dealers was not over.

"Far from it," L gave her an answer.

"But Mello shot like 500 druggies at the warehouse…"

"I only killed three you idiot, and we managed to only round up a small portion of the operation. Ever since you got your ass kidnapped, we've had to blow our cover and rescue you, making the actual drug operation move from its original location. Now we have to find them again," Mello made his anger clear. He sounded as if he was smashing the keys on his keyboard.

"That was so not my fault." She wiggled her finger back and forth. Mello snorted in disagreement.

"Mello, I've sent the location to Matt. You should be on your way in the next five minutes." L gave his next order. Alice wasn't sure if he interrupted to help her, or simply do his job, but she was grateful none the less.

"We're on our way," Matt smiled, once again relieving the tension in the room. Matt then managed to convince Mello to leave the room without sarcastically mocking anyone on the way out. Alice was impressed. When they were gone, L gestured for her to come sit back down. She obliged with a light skip in her step.

"So what's next oh-great detective?"

"You are going to come with me to an interrogation."

Alice lit up with delight. It had been a while since L had seen her with such an infectious smile, and he was momentarily proud of himself for getting her to do so.

"No way! Oh my god, I need to go put on a push-up bra!" She scrambled up from her chair.

"That's not necessary…" L immediately lost his pride. In the background, he could hear Watari sigh loudly. But Alice didn't seem to listen to either of them. She was already squealing bits and pieces of incoherent words, and running for the door. She may have said something about showing off her skills, but he wasn't quite sure. The only good side to her random spark of enthusiasm was the brief joy he had brought to her. At least he wasn't making her cry anymore.

* * *

L waited patiently outside of the interrogation room. Earlier he had texted Alice to meet him there in the next ten minutes. He recently given her a new phone since her last one was smashed to pieces somewhere just outside of Grapeland. He highly recommended not breaking this one so she could stay in contact with them at all times. Alice of course, could not give him her guarantee that her phone would stay in one piece. L just had to accept that answer with a grain of salt. But aside from faulty promises, L still had a whimsical sense of happiness clouding around him like a fog after a storm. Everywhere he looked, he saw the colors around him stand out as if they were glowing. His keen sense of vision seemed to become sharper in just a matter of minutes. The smell of sweets somehow got sweeter; the taste of chocolate has gotten creamier, and even the touch of the carpet on his bare feet has gotten softer. Every part of his senses seems to have gotten enhanced over the last few minutes, and he fully blamed it all on Alice. Never in his life has he looked at his surroundings with such interest. Most of his work he's focused on what was necessary. Now he seemed to notice everything around him, and he certainly wasn't overwhelmed. In fact, he found it to be exhilarating. It was as if he was experiencing his first case all over again. He was finally getting back to the roots of his happiness. He was experiencing his love for the hunt, and even more so, sharing it with the one person he felt a connection with.

Having her with him working on the case, felt like Christmas day. It was as if he bought her a present he was excited to see her open. In the far back of his mind, he did worry how she would handle herself in the interrogation, but his trust with her has reached past its peak, and he had faith she would make the interrogation worthwhile. Even if she didn't get any answers, at least he had the assurance that it would be entertaining. He would have to make a copy of the recording for future amusement. It was her first interrogation anyway, so he felt it would be necessary to have it recorded on video. Maybe he could even start a makeshift scrape book of their work together. He still had the ring from their trip to France…

"I'm here," A defeated sigh came from down the hall. Alice looked hunched over, with her head drooping towards the floor. She was walking with her feet dragging on the carpet.

"You were very excited earlier." L grew interested.

"I forgot I left my push-up bra at home." Alice's sigh got louder. "I put on my zebra print Victory Secret, but it doesn't make them look perky enough. Do you think I should stuff it with tissue?"

"I'm not going to give you an answer to that, and I'm still not quite sure why you insist your…assets…are necessary for this interrogation. If anything, they will distract from the questioning itself."

Alice started to wiggle her eyebrows up and down, and a playful smile replaced her disappointment. "So are you saying that my breasts will be too distracting for you?"

"I'm going to ignore that too and move on to the task at hand. Do you remember the two men who kidnapped you?"

"Of course, who could forget being thrown at a wall and locked in a cage?" Alice gave up on the teasing. She had all the time in the world to tease him later anyway. And the sooner they finished the case, the sooner she could go home and be with her family. Underneath all her doubt about the relationship, she was still excited to tell everyone at the Wammy house about her and L. She wondered what they would think, or if they would even approve. L was like a god to them, so would she even be worthy?

"In that room is one of the men who kidnapped you. If you are uncomfortable with speaking to him, then I would understand."

Alice mentally tried to picture which man was in that room. She certainly didn't like the idea of sitting across from muscles, but then again, the Italian didn't sound so hot either. But she didn't want to waste an opportunity to stare someone down and try to force them to speak the truth. She always believed that would be her strong suit if she ever did consider taking up detective work.

"I'm coming in with you. Do you want to be the bad cop, or should I?"

"Please don't use movie references to operate an investigation."

"You just made yourself the good cop. Leave the nasty talking to me and we'll crack him like an egg." Alice reached for the door handle. L internally gave a groan, starting to rethink letting her help in the first place. Maybe he was letting his euphoria take over his brain too much. Why did he ask her to help him again?

Before he could think of an excuse, Alice was already walking inside, causing L to hurry in behind her. They hadn't even taken two steps inside before Alice make a remark to the criminal.

"So it's the greasy haired weasel eh? Let's hear what you have to say for yourself you little piece of shit. Mind telling me what you were doing yesterday afternoon?" Alice pulled her chair around so it was facing the opposite direction. That way, when she sat down, she could fold her arms on top of the backrest. The Italian rouge sneered at his new roommates, giving Alice an even sharper glare to try and cut her overly confidant exterior. It obviously wasn't working, since Alice made a face back at him.

"I was fighten' your skanky ass down at the abandon amusement park." His Italian accent was strong. Alice gasped loudly and stood up for dramatic flair.

"So you admit to attacking me!"

"Are you an idiot? Of course I did! What kind of interrogation are you trying to run here? I thought you wanted to know about the suppliers?" He waved his cuffed arms about. One of his hands was covered with gauze from when Mello shot the gun out of his hand. Alice wondered how much pain he was in. He was shot in the leg too, but Alice couldn't see his legs since they were under the table.

L jumped in quickly to answer his question. He had been momentarily watching the two go at it while he got comfortable in his seat.

"That is exactly what we need to know. I need names of all the suppliers."

"I ain't telling you squat." Italian looked away. Alice started to click her tongue. That was a clear sign that she was annoyed.

"Listen here buster," Alice began her rant. "You either tell us who they are, or so help me Jesus, I will kick you in the nuts again."

"Is she aloud to do that?" He turned to L with fear in his eyes. All the guy had to do was think back to his brief moment with her, and goose bumps would cover his body. He cringed at the thought of her last kick. He was pretty sure she gave him a vasectomy with just one swing. He wasn't going to have a child anytime soon, that was for sure.

"I don't endorse torture, but that does not mean I have full control of her actions. She can do as she pleases." L gave him an honest answer. Deep down inside, he did feel sorry for the guy. Nobody should be put through two kicks to the crotch. Wasn't one enough?

The Italian swallowed a large lump in his throat. But he straightened his back and tried to put on a hard outer shell.

"You don't scare me." He attempted to say without making his voice squeak. He failed miserably.

"Is that so?" Alice arched an eyebrow. She then slowly made her way around the table, keeping her eyes on her kidnapper. He flinched under her gaze as she stood right next to him. L only watched with curiosity. He should have probably told her to stay in her seat, but his intrigue far outweighed the safety of the situation. And he wasn't disappointed. Alice started to adjust her breasts, as if she was trying to make them look bigger.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You lactating or something?"

Alice slapped him across the face so hard the sound echoed inside of the small room.

"That is sexual harassment! You keep this up and your rep sheet is only going to get bigger. You'll be in jail for the rest of your life!"

"You crazy bitch!"

"Name calling is going to get you a death sentence!" Alice made her argument louder. The Italian rubbed his newly swollen red cheek and growled at Alice.

"Ace, I think you've said enough. Why don't you have a seat?" L made a good offer. It took Alice a moment to think it over, but L was right. She made her statement loud and clear, so now it was the good cops turn to proceed. She slowly backed away and found her seat next to L. She turned it back to its original position, so she could cross one leg over the other.

"He's all yours," She gesture to L, feeling proud of how she dealt with her role. She would later have to ask L how amazing she was. She was sure L would dote and fawn over her skills as an interrogator. He may even hire her full time for the gig.

"Your background check came back with an interesting history." L finally got to start on the right foot. He pulled out a file from seemingly nowhere. Alice wasn't even sure where he could have been hiding it. The only response L got from the Italian was an arched eyebrow. So he continued. "You were born in New Jersey and worked for a cable company in your younger years. You even got married at the age of 26. How is it that such a simple man with a stable lifestyle throws his life away to move to Texas and work for an illegal drug trade?"

Alice was shocked to hear about his past. She would have never guess he could have found love and worked in a normal job. But then again, she saw almost every criminal as lowlifes who were born with a rotten heart. She liked to think they were bad people from the start, because she hated to think anybody could become killers. The Italian started to lick his lips. He looked away as if he was having a hard time focusing. The fight he had in him before seemed to vanish right before Alice's eyes.

"I had a bad marriage." He started to answer. "Wife left me for a fucking plumber. We hadn't even been together for a year. So I quit my job and moved away to forget. But it got worse, so I needed a distraction."

"And you thought killing innocent people would be a good distraction?" Alice gapped.

"I didn't start killing people!" the Italian shouted. "I took up the profession of selling the stuff."

"You don't seem like the type to kill willingly," L made an observation. The Italian laughed at that statement.

"You're right. I don't particularly like to shoot people, but as soon as I started to make a lot of money, I got hooked on the income. I wanted more, and killing people paid ten times the salary I got for selling the stuff. I justified my kills with the thought of knowing I was only killing the basterds who bought the drugs."

"But you shot my friend! You shot Eric!" Alice got emotional. Her hands gripped the table like clamps.

"You guys shouldn't have been there in the first place! I had to do what I had to do."

Alice looked about ready to slap him again. L had to step in quickly before the interrogation got out of hand.

"Your criminal record is certainly not as large as Josephs, and yet you rank higher up the scale then him. Why is that?"

Hearing the name Joseph brought Alice back to her vision of being choked out in the desert. Joseph was Doug's killer, and he was somebody Alice was thankful to never meet.

"The guy has no brains. All he knows how to do is eat, sleep, and kill. So I made him do most of the grunt work. Paid him with pocket change,"

"Interesting, and your partner Hammer, how did you two come to work together?"

"We met back when we were selling. He came out of military and didn't really have anywhere else to go. Government screwed him over pretty good, so he was left selling drugs. I asked him to work with me, because I needed the muscle."

"You're kidding me," Alice was becoming more stunned. Muscles came from the military? That would explain his overly buff body, but it certainly didn't explain how he could justify selling drugs. Weren't those who joined the army supposed to have a patriotic pride for their country?

"And who was it that hired you?"

"That I ain't going to tell ya. I'm not going to fall for that trick. You just want to know who the suppliers are."

"So you're saying it was the suppliers who hired you, and not any of the dealers."

"Ah…wait! No! I didn't say nothing!" Italian got flustered.

"Thank you for your cooperation." L started to stand up. Alice was surprised to see he was done already. L must have figured something out with just that piece of information.

"It's over? That was it?" The Italian seemed just as confused as Alice.

"Yes, that was all. I will have an escort come and get you to take you back to your prison cell."

"But I don't want to go back there," His shoulders slumped.

"Well you should have thought of that before you shot my friend," Alice said as she followed L by standing up. She didn't give the Italian thug a second look as she walk out the room, trailing behind L. She was tired of listening to his whiny voice, and remembering that Eric was still in the hospital made her even more upset. At least she got the satisfaction of slapping him.

"Are you alright?" L asked her after they were out of the room and the door was shut. Ace gave him a quizzical look.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"I noticed you were starting to get more upset as the interrogation went on."

"That was nothing, don't look into it. But enough about my feelings, how did I do? Do you think I was too amazing? I probably could have saved the sexual harassment for an even bigger case, but I just wanted to test the water first, you know?"

L honestly didn't know how to answer her question. He always believed honesty was the best policy, but under his newly formed circumstances with her, lying would have been the better option. He just managed to form an intimate relationship with her, and she was the type of person who lived off of appraisal. So he decided to be honest with his answer, but only to a certain point.

"You managed to rattle him up pretty well. Your confidence was quite astounding."

Alice soaked up the so called complement like a sponge. Even though he didn't bow down to her, getting that much out of him was just as good.

"Thank you." She swayed like a child. L was relieved to get away with such a simple response, and he was even more thrilled to see he's made her happy. "So why did we leave anyway? I thought you wanted to know who the suppliers were," Alice asked him.

"I got my answer. This case has been monitored for years, and we have names of many of the culprits. But we haven't been able to label any of them as the actual suppliers. But I am knowledgeable of those who have high enough power to recruit new employees. Grill just told us the suppliers are the ones who hired him, so I now have the names of those people."

"That's amazing!" Alice lit up.

"Thank you,"

"So now what do we do? Do we round up the suppliers and send them to jail?"

"That would be the goal of this whole case, but unfortunately since their location has moved, we are unaware of where they might be."

"But couldn't the slime ball in there tell us where they went?" Alice pointed behind her at the door.

"We apprehended him before his comrades moved, so he could not tell us where they have gone."

"I guess that's true," Alice bit the inside of her cheek. "So how do we find them?"

"Well the most common way to find a felon is to put their image up on posters or television screens so the local civilians can help with the search. Other methods are the use of the police, track records, or surveillance cameras. They couldn't have moved their operation far, so our search shouldn't take us too long. The only concern I have is their probability of running across the border. If they plant themselves in Mexico, then my authority on the case is void, and then it's up to the police in Mexico to finish the job."

"That's not fair."

"Different countries, different set of rules," L stuck one of his hands into his pocket.

"Well I want to catch these guys, so let's get the cops out there and find them!" Alice got pumped up. She was ready to save the day, and more than anything, get the case done and over with.

"There is something more that you could help with."

"What do you need?" Alice's smirk grew.

"Come with me and I will explain," L stated while moving forward. Alice happily followed in suit, swaying a little along the way.

"Do you need me to interrogate muscles too?" Alice wondered. After having been successful with the Italian, she felt like she could handle muscles without any trouble; as long as he was chained to floor instead of the table. She had a feeling with his strength, he could break the table.

"That won't be necessary. I have something more important for you to do." L walked a little slower so Alice could catch up with him. When she was walking side by side with him, she spoke.

"Do you need me to order more room service again?"

"Watari is more than capable of making anything you would like. Are you hungry? I know you haven't eaten dinner yet, and it's getting late."

Alice was about to tell him she wasn't hungry, but her stomach beat her to the answer first. It growled like a starving lion cub. She quickly covered it with her hands, hoping maybe she could shield the noise.

"I'm not hungry…" She played it off as nothing. L wasn't a fool.

"How about I discuss your next task over dinner?"

Alice wasn't sure what to think about his offer. He was downplaying dinner with work, and Alice liked the idea. Somehow he could read her thoughts, and make the situation into something they could both agree on. Why had she never noticed this about him before? It was a quality she certainly liked.

"Alight, let's go eat." She agreed. L steered her toward the dining hall next. Last time she was there, she was about to be put through an interrogation that made her stomach do flips. Now it was flipping for entirely different reasons, but she didn't mind it as much as before. As they entered the dining room, the few employees she saw before had disappeared completely. It was as Alice predicted. The entire Hotel had been evacuated. All that was left was L's task force. Not thinking anything of it, she took a seat in one of the chairs that was surrounding a plain looking glossed over round table. Underneath the gloss looked like wood, but she wouldn't be surprised if it was fake. L sat on the opposite side. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialed Watari's number. In just a short conversation, L ordered Watari to bring them something to eat, and of course, make the desert with strawberries. In no time, L was folding up his phone and sticking it back in his pocket.

Alice took the silence between them as an opportunity to look around the room. There was a swing door to the kitchen on the far right wall. Surrounding it was a little alcove that had countertops and an island. It was most likely used for displaying the chief's work. On the walls opposite of the alcove were large paintings of cattle ranches. It seemed Texas was proud of their work as farmers. They displayed many pieces of art that represented the hard labor of a cowboy. But beyond the urban paintings of southern living, the hotel was among the most simplistic she's ever been to. Just the way she liked it.

"Do you think this could be labeled as our first date?" L brought up the question out of the blue. Alice had to mentally slap herself to bring her back down to earth.

"What?" Her brain didn't quite catch up.

"This will be our first time as a couple eating dinner together. Is that not the basic setup for an average outing between a couple?"

"You think this is a date?" Alice mostly asked herself the question, but she waited for L to give her an answer.

"We do not have to label this as one if you feel uncomfortable." Alice heard the disappointment. He was actually starting to make her feel guilty, and she could tell he was doing it on purpose. Since when was he using manipulation on her? Wasn't he the one who claimed to want to take things slow?

"I'm not uncomfortable with it, I just…ah…It's not what I expected…" Alice stumbled on her words.

"You are right. This inst much of a date if we are working." L stuck his thumb to his bottom lip. Alice seemed to relax a lot easier after that. But the relaxation did not last long. "We should hold hands." He stuck out his hand toward her on the table.

"Are you serious?" Alice stared at his outstretched hand.

"I'm very serious. To make this date official, I've read that holding hands is the first step between a couple."

"You're getting date tips from a book?"

"Yes," L didn't seem embarrassed in the least. Alice's heart felt like it would jump out of her chest at any moment. How could he be so calm? Wasn't he the one who confessed to her? Why was she the jumbled sweaty mess? Alice sighed heavily, bringing her hand to her forehead.

"I thought you wanted to take things slow. I'm still not sure what love is supposed to feel like." She made an excuse. L still did not retract his hand.

"Should I try to court you? I've read that Shakespeare was a master of the romances. In _A midsummer Night's Dream_, I recall a line he wrote about love._ 'Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.' _But I have to admit, I've never had a taste for Shakespeare. His work tends to be overplayed and frankly unrealistic for the time period. He claims love to be the risk for death, but in reality, tuberculosis would be a more leading cause."

Alice felt immobile. What was she suppose to that? He was quoting Shakespeare as a pick up line!

"Fine, I'll hold your hand." She gave up. She honestly didn't know how else to stop him. It was just holding hands anyway, how hard could that be? Taking her right hand from her lap, she reached over the table and gently placed her hand over his. She had never notice before, but his hands were quite large compared to hers. As soon as he closed his hand around hers, she was trapped inside of a cocoon. At first she felt awkward, not even sure what to do with her other hand. But as time progressed, the warmth of his hand had become more comfortable. In fact, it led her back to the time she was blindfolded and brought to that motel room in France. She had been experiencing the fear of the murder, but when L touched her, it all just seemed to vanish, and she was brought back to a sense of calmness. She liked the feeling, but was it the feeling love, or just hormones?

"Your hand is cold."

"Well if you don't like it, then let go," Alice got angry and tried to pull away. But L held onto her hand, not wanting to lose the little connection they shared.

"I never said I didn't like it. I was merely stating a fact." He tried to recover the moment. He would later have to do more research on dating. He clearly wasn't good with his words. Alice clicked her tongue once, but relaxed in his grip. She realized she was fighting him, even though she agreed to be with him. She needed to let go of her fears and try to do her part for the relationship. It wasn't fare that L was the only one trying. So taking a deep breath, she used her thumb to rub against the palm of his hand. His skin was incredibly smooth for somebody who typed on a computer all day. She wondered if he used lotion.

"I'm sorry," she managed to say. For a moment, L didn't hear what she said. He was too busy watching her thumb. He wondered if he should do the same, but then felt a fog drain out all his thoughts. He could subtly hear she was speaking words, but as to what they were, he could not figure out.

"L, are you listening?"

"Huh?" He finally snapped out of it. What had she done to him?

"I was apologizing for earlier. I know this is new for both of us, and I wasn't being very nice to about it."

"There is no need for that. I find whatever you do to be perfect."

"Oh, so now you're mister charming?" Alice smiled, beginning to enjoy playing with his hand. She started to make circles with her thumb to see what kind of effect it would have on him. She decided if she was going to break his composed exterior with teasing, she would have to step up her game. Talking about her breasts wasn't going to be enough.

"Did I finally say the right thing? I feel I should take note of this." L mumbled the last sentence to himself. It took all of his willpower not to focus on her thumb. He still had to explain what her job was, and Watari would be there any minute with their food. He couldn't give in to her charms so easily like last time. He needed to stay focused and get back to the case. He had to…ah…hmm.

What did he have to do again?

"Sir, your food is ready." Watari appeared just in the nick of time.

"Excellent," L finally found an excuse to look away from her thumb. Alice stopped rubbing and eyed the cart of food like a hungry wolf. She probably would have pounced at the cart had L not been holding onto her. When Watari was at their table, he immediately noticed they were holding each other's hands. He was momentary struck with disbelief. So it was true after all. L and Alice were a couple.

"That smells amazing!" Alice started to drool. It wasn't just any smell. It was the smell of Watari's beef stew. The smell was so rich, Alice could even taste it.

"I'm happy to see you both getting along." Watari looked delighted. For a brief moment, Alice could have sworn she saw flowers grow around him with some sort of glowing light, like a halo for an angel. He set the bowl of stew in front of Alice, and then placed a strawberry covered tart in front of L. It did not take long for Alice to free herself from L's hand and dig her spoon into the thick broth.

"Thank you Watari." L retracted his hand so he could eat as well. Watari bowed as usual and started to walk away with the cart. "One last thing before you go," L called out. "I need those lists of photos sent to the control center."

"Right away sir," And after that, he was gone. Alice had a least three spoon fulls of stew in her mouth before she even notice his disappearance. She was too far gone in utter bliss to pay attention to her surroundings. L hoped he didn't have that same odd look when she had him under her spell, because she looked ridiculous. It didn't help that a part of the stew was running down her chin.

"So wha ar da phodos for?" Alice tried to ask with the food in her mouth. Lucky for her, L understood.

"They are for your next task. You are going to use these pictures to tell us anything new about these criminals. Preferably their location, but I do not expect you to have to make that connection." L stuck his fork into his tart. Alice swallowed her food and licked her lips.

"Sounds fun," she shrugged her shoulders. "But there was something else I was curious about. Where did you send Matt and Mello?"

"There were a few places I suspected the drug trade to move, and I sent Matt and Mello to investigate. Since Mello isn't the type to sit around and work, I figured he would work better on the field."

"Smart move," Alice waved her spoon up and down.

"Intelligent decisions are what make a good detective," L savored a piece of strawberry. Alice had spit out some of her food to laugh. She snorted once and covered her mouth to clean up the mess. L gave her a puzzled look and watched her clean up with a napkin.

"Did I say something funny?"

"I'm sorry," Alice continued to chuckle. "You're just so straight forward sometimes; it's hard not to laugh."

"I don't see the humor…"

Alice didn't let him finished. She used her spoon to scoop up a piece of his strawberry tart. She quickly ate her stolen reward with gusto.

"Not bad," She licked the spoon clean. L's response was not something Alice would have imagined. But it wasn't as if he's never done it. Alice had never even paid close attention to it before. But this time around it was different. Because behind his newly formed smile, there was an emotion Alice could feel within herself. It was an attraction that was slowly building up. And even though she knew it wouldn't last long, she was going to relish it. Her first date with him was defiantly going to be memorable.

* * *

Watari entered the control room with a handful of photographs, each carefully labeled and alphabetized. He loved when things were neat and pristine, and ever since L left, he had been cleaning up the room like a mad man. Near had been a good sport about his need for order, and occasionally helped him with the process. But it didn't take Near long to move to the corner and play with his Lego's. Watari allowed him to make the small mess, as long as he did not spread it around the room.

"So how is the happy couple doing?" Near asked Watari. Watari had a smile so vibrantly bright, that Near even considered wearing sunglasses.

"Wonderful, just wonderful," He answered proudly.

"I'm particular excited to see how Ace uses her psychic abilities." Near quickly changed topics. Seeing Watari so happy made him a bit nervous.

"It's quite astounding really." Watari set the photos on top of L's desk. Near placed another piece of Lego on his tower.

"Do you believe in ghosts Watari?"

Watari sat down before he answered the question. He played with his beard a little and then smiled.

"Well I couldn't very deny their existence, now could I?"

Near looked up to Watari, much like he did with L. So whenever Watari had an opinion on something, Near made sure to listen. Even if his ideas sounded farfetched, there wasn't much that could make Near think badly of the man. If anything, it made him even more interesting to listen too.

"I suppose that's true." Near stopped building his tower and moved on to twirling his hair.

"Is there something wrong Near?" Watari noticed his long delay of silence. It wasn't unusual for Near to be mute at times, but Watari could always tell when Near had something on his mind.

"I'm only uncertain of how this case will end." Near felt a knot in his stomach. This was the first time L was not entirely dedicated to his work, and much like he looked up to Watari, Near saw L as his mentor. He of course adored Alice much like everyone else in the Wammy house, but what did her new relationship with L mean? Would things change? He certainly did not like change.

"Do not fret over something you have no control over Near. You should trust L," Watari knew exactly what Near was thinking. It wasn't as if he never had any similar thoughts, but Watari knew L better than anyone. L could never let his work slip.

"Yes, of course." Near let go of his troubled thoughts. It wasn't healthy to hold onto doubt. Especially after what was supposed to be a happy occasion.

And yet…

Something inside of him felt not right. What was this feeling he had that wasn't making feel good?

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**NerdyZombieThing, tootsiepop101, Otaku-neku, Arathi.x, hikari-hime 01, Bree Renee, chocolatxdoll, ****Violet-revenge**, **torixx3**, **Ironicsheep**, **Angel Ayame**, MsGrinAndCry, **Kashagal and Natures Ruler**, **SpringBorn**, **Karen**, **Ramen Pizza Teacup**, **Crazyinabottle**, **Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit**, **freaksforever**, **blackstar778**, **Saber Amane**, **XBloodMageRikaX**, **BubbleGum**, **Purple Hippo**, **Cortoon,** **Chicken Broth, ****Jonny Bravo**, **Maria**, **Danielle** (Love you!)**, ****Dani, ****Spark of the forgotten**, **Genuinely-Unique**, **MsBlondiePunch**, and Midnight Enforcer. (I noticed a lot of you thought it was the end of my story, and I found that interesting. I promise to never end any of my stories with just a love confession. I will warn you in my headings whether the story is going to end, so don't worry folks. xD I adore you all!)**  
**

**bellascorpiona: **_Kira no está en esta historia_ (hope I said that right). Somewhere on my 7th chapter I written the reason as to why I kept him out my story. _Gracias por leer!_

**Beloved Little Bit: **I hope I don't get mobbed by paparazzi. I look horrible in pictures. For some reason my face hates to be photogenic. So to make up for it, I have to make some crazy facial expression to look as if I purposely make myself look bad. xD And I write fast because it's so much fun! TEE HEE~ **  
**

**Yumeno: **The website you wrote did not get fully published, so you might have to send it to me through privet messaging. I did check out how to mirror glaze, and it looks incredible!**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Eh, you are trying to trick me you little trickster. When I read your riddle, something didn't sound right. The first half of the riddle doesn't work with the second half. It's as if you move off the topic of "gry". So the second half is asking a completely different question. And since the riddle told me the answer, then it's "Language". The three words were "the english language", and the third word was "language". **  
**

**jssjessica: **Your english is flawless. I post every two weeks (Usually). Unless I get crazy and post a week early. =D**  
**

**Vsat101: **GASP! *Starts to hyperventilate* Fan art? YAY! Thank you so much! I'm so excited! THANK YOU!**  
**

**blondetheftauto: **I love getting reviews! And I'm sure if you love writing and work hard on your story, it will eventually get the love it deserves. But ultimately enjoy what you write and it will show in your work. Thank you so much for your review! It absolutely made me giddy.**  
**

**RedVelvetPanda: **I'm your first? I feel so privileged! I'm truly honored by your gracious gift of a review. And what a brilliant first review it was. I was blown away by how kind and flattering you were. Thank you so much for liking my story enough to want to talk to me about it. I'm so happy I could consume an entire watermelon! xD**  
**

**Friendly Neighborhood Stalker: **I know this may sound random, but I absolutely love your profile name. Just brilliant.**  
**

**Speckles719: **Getting the consistency of those cookies was tough! You were right. It doesn't take much to overdo it. I literally had to start over a second batch, cause I messed up the first time. But hey, practice makes perfect right? The second batch turned out much better, and they tasted GOOD! Thank you so much for the recipe! You are like the recipe book I've always wanted, but your better because you complement my writing too! xD **  
**

**kapibarasan: **I'm okay with lemons. They don't bother me in the least, as long as they are written well. I've read a few in the past that have just been plain awful and not realistic. If I do ever write a lemon, I would defiantly take my time to make sure it was appropriate for the story.**  
**

**Guest: **Your first time writing, and you chose me out of the thousands of brilliant stories? You are too kind! Thank you so much! You have every right to be picky about fics. I am too. And I would have never guessed english wasn't your native language. You have mastered english quite well. =)**  
**


	53. Mission 1: Find the Suppliers

I've got a question for you all.

Do any of you have pets?

And if so, do any of your pets act like they're on some sort of crazy pill?

Believe it or not, yesterday I was quietly sitting at my desk doing...computer things...(can't remember),

and out of the blue came my cat hurtling into my room with a mouse in her mouth!

She loves giving me presents, and of course most of the presents she brings me tend to be alive...

So yes folks...I have a live mouse running around my room somewhere.

I have not been able to catch it yet...

Should I kill my cat?

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, but I am now the proud owner of a field mouse somewhere in my room. -_-)_

* * *

**Mission 1: Find the Suppliers **

Mello kicked up the sawdust on the ground with his boots, leaving behind a trail of bare concrete. He watched the dust effortlessly float along the small breeze he discovered near a vent. It sucked up the sawdust like a vacuum.

"Looks like the ventilation systems around here are still in operation, which means somebody was here."

Matt took note of the new discovery and then pulled out a cigarette. They were in an old butcher's shop that went out of business years ago, so he didn't have to worry about getting any looks from those who thought his habit was disgusting. Mello occasionally would give him the look, but then again, Mello gave the disgusted look to almost everyone he knew.

"Start knocking on the walls. These places are known for having secret rooms." He lit his cigarette. Mello did just that. He stepped closer to the back wall behind the broken counter tops, and started to knock in different places, waiting to hear for a certain sound. While Mello was doing his search, Matt decided to go check the back room where all the meat had been stored. As he walked in, he was hit with a blast of cold air. There was no hum of the freezer being in operation, but it must have recently been working to still have such a chilled temperature.

"This place smells like shit." Mello voiced his opinion as Matt started to look around.

"What do you expect from an old butcher shop?" Matt kneeled down over some debris. There wasn't any meat left in the freezer, but what were left were bits and pieces of parchment and bones. The bones were most likely from the cows, but the parchment could have been old recites, either from the butcher shop itself, or from the sales of the drugs. Not taking any chances, he pulled out two separate baggies and collected both the parchment and the bones. Every piece of evidence was important to the case, even if it was the remains of an animal.

"There's nothing here." Mello walked in to watch Matt finishing up his collection. Matt stored the evidence inside of his vest and adjusted his goggles.

"Shall we move on to our next destination?"

"What's the next place?"

To answer Mello's question, Matt had to pull out his PSP. He tinkered with it for a couple of seconds and then found what he was looking for.

"Exit 78, off of chambers. 42nd lot."

"What does that mean?" Mello pinched his nose. The smell was starting to get to him.

"That means we are going to investigate an old body farm."

"Please tell me you are joking…" Mello wanted to gag. A body farm was the last place he ever wanted to go. Body farms were used at universities to study the decomposition of the deceased. Which meant there was a good chance a dead body was going to be there, and it was going to be undergoing decomposition. It was going to smell awful.

"I find it more interesting that this place has gone out of business. How could a body farm loose enough income to have to shut down?" Matt scratched his head.

"I think L is doing this on purpose," Mello ignored Matt's question. He didn't care about how the body farm lost its funding. The fact that he was being sent to one must have been his punishment for upsetting L's precious Alice.

"Do you think we'll get to see a decapitated head? I've always wanted to know the decomposition process for a severed head."

Mello grumble under his breath and started to chew on the inside of his cheek. There were days like these that he wondered why he ever befriended the red head with goggles.

* * *

Alice flipped to the next photo and rested her head on the back of her hand. Her frown deepened as she tried to concentrate. She had been looking at the photos for what seemed like hours. There had been at least twenty of them, and this was her third time going through them, just to see if she could pick up anything new. What she had gotten so far were little bits and pieces of irrelevant knowledge, such as who smoked a pack of cigarettes every day, or who had a nervous twitch to them that they couldn't control. It was the little things that made her search all that much more frustrating. So she stopped looking at the ones that didn't hold much importance to the drug case, and focused on the few suppliers she had photos of. L had told her about each of the men in the photos and he pointed to the ones specifically who he thought were the suppliers. What Alice really wanted to find out was their location. It didn't have to be an address explicitly, but at least something like a landmark or number that could possibly help L to find these men. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to find anything about their whereabouts yet.

"This is getting frustrating," she huffed.

"You're doing an excellent job Ace." L encouraged her. Alice would have appreciated his encouragement had he not been focusing his attention on his computer and sounding unenthusiastic. She gave a heavy sigh and fell backwards onto the bed. Her head softy landed on the pillow behind her. She was defiantly starting to feel the effects of not sleeping. It had to have been two in morning.

"If you're tired Ace, then you should get some sleep," Near said from the floor. He was still in his original spot in the corner, but this time he was watching a television screen. He was going over some of the surveillance footage for the case.

"I'm falling asleep already." She closed her eyes.

"There are plenty of unoccupied rooms in this hotel that you could sleep in," L suggested. Alice thought about sleeping in her own room, but ever since she got that scare from Doug, she didn't feel too comfortable by herself at night.

Wait!

That was it!

She could talk to Doug and find out where the suppliers went! Why didn't she think of that sooner? She shot up from her sleeping position and rolled off the bed as quickly as she could. L watched her as she zoomed towards the door. He didn't think his suggestion would have gone over so well with her, but at least she was showing more enthusiasm then before. A good night's rest would certainly make her happy. As she ran out the room, Near combed through his hair for another strand to twist. His anxiety seemed to grow stronger after L and Alice returned to the room, but he would never voice his feelings out loud. He still didn't have an answer as to why he was feeling so shaken, and there was no use trying to explain it to either Alice or L. His only coping mechanism he had was the screen in front of him. Work was his only way out of his meandering thoughts.

Not caring which room she went in, Alice chose a room three doors down from the control center. She had to be far enough away for Doug to feel comfortable enough to come out. Ghosts were temperamental about who they showed themselves to, and even though L or Near could not see him, that didn't mean he wasn't shy around them. If Alice was a ghost, she would surely be intimidated by L and Near. They had the kind of stares that made goose-bumps appear.

"Doug?" She gasped out his name as she shut the door behind her. She had to turn on the lights since the room was pitch black. When she didn't get a response, she decided to make her voicelouder. "DOUG!"

"How did I get here?"

Alice turned around sharply and found Doug standing in front of the only window in the room. He looked a little dazed, as if he had gone on some wild ride.

"I called you here," She answered his question when she felt confident that he would stick around. It was yet another trick she learned on her own. She could call upon the dead whenever she wanted, and they would have to come. It was like saying _Beetlejuice_ three times in a row. The only problem with the trick was that she could not force them to stay. If they wanted to go, they had every right to disappear.

"You can do that?" Doug was amazed. Alice felt smug for a moment, enjoying the expression he had. But her moment of appraisal would have to wait. She had more important matters to discuss with him.

"Do you think you could find out where the suppliers have gone?"

"Suppliers?"

"Yes, they moved, and now we don't know where they are." She gave a short explanation. She didn't think telling him it was her fault they moved was important.

"Why do you think I know where they are? It's not like I haunt them or anything." Doug looked away while crossing his arms. The curl of his lip told Alice he was lying through his teeth. He looked rather pleased with himself.

"Have you tried taking over any of their bodies?"

"Can I do that?" Doug sounded eager.

"Some ghosts can, but I don't sense that kind of strength from you." She let him down. "But if want to get back at these men, then how about telling me where they are."

"What can you do?"

"I can get all their butts sent to jail."

"I'd rather haunt them. It's more fun."

Alice started to bite her bottom lip. She had to convince Doug to tell her where they were, but he didn't seem to want to cooperate. If he wasn't going to tell her, then she was just going to have to use the big guns. She never liked telling the dead this, but she felt it was the only way to convince him.

"Listen Doug, the longer you stay here on earth, the more attached you become. At some point you will never be able to leave and you will be stuck drifting among the crowds that can't see or hear you. Do you want to be stuck here forever?"

"What do you mean stuck?" He started to sound terrified. That was the kind of reaction she was hoping for.

"You came to me for help because you needed to resolve some mistakes you made in your life. When those mistakes are taken care of, you are supposed to move on. Pass over. Take the final plunge to the unknown. Excreta, excreta,"

"Where do I move onto?" He asked the question that every ghost seemed to continually ask her. She must have heard the question over a million times, but unfortunately she had no idea where they went. She wasn't sure if they went to heaven or got reincarnated into fish. As much as she would have loved to give him something to be optimistic about, she could not.

"Hopefully someplace nice,"

Alice watched him with anticipation. He was mulling over Alice's last words. She scared him, that was for sure, but did she scare him enough?

* * *

Matt had to pull his boots out of the mud each time he took a step. It made an odd slurping sound every time he pulled out, and then a splat when he drove his foot into the ground. Suffice to say, he did not like it. Not only were his boots getting dirty, but he ran out of cigarettes the minute they got there. Having to trudge through the mud made him crave a cigarette more than ever.

"Will you hurry up? Stop making that ridicules face!" Mello shouted from the other side of the large mud puddle. He had already made the journey through the mud and was well on his way deeper into the abandon body farm. It smelled just like he thought it would, but the bright side was that he didn't spot any decaying bodies around. If the place was taken care of after it lost its funding, then more likely than not, the place must have been cleared of the dead; either by disposing the bodies, or relocating them to a different farm.

"These boots were custom made! Why couldn't I have waited in the car?"

"Fine! You want to be a pussy? Then go back to the car!"

Matt was almost persuaded by the offer, but he automatically knew he would feel guilty for letting Mello do all the work himself. And there was nothing more obnoxious then having to feel guilt. So weighing between the pro and cons, he pushed forward through the mud and made it across the puddle. Mello didn't say another word as his friend approached him.

"Just out of curiosity, did you call me a pussy?"

Mello made no attempt to respond to that question. Instead, he pointed to a large sewer pipe coming out from the ground. It was dripping off a steady flow of water right into the mud.

"The runoff from the pipe is the reason for this mud. That was put there purposely so intruders would have a hard time getting in."

Matt pointed down at the trail of footprints he left behind after he walked out of the mud. "I'd say their security system was pretty ingenious. Even if they didn't catch the guy at the entrance, they sure could have used his trail he left behind to follow him."

Mello nodded his head to agree and then took a look around at his surroundings. The place looked awful even without the decaying bodies. It was converted into an unlicensed trash heap. This meant that anybody who wanted their trash gone without the help of a garbage truck would bring their crap to the abandoned body farm.

"If this was the only visible entrance, then they must have had a secret one to get in and out without the trouble of going through mud. Let's spread out and look along the fence lines" Mello gave his order. Matt frowned and started to feel his fingers twitch. Usually he was all for helping Mello and taking orders, but the body farm was massive. It was once used to hold hundreds of decaying bodies in more than one scenario, so obviously they were going to need the space. Who knows how many acres it could have been, but Matt sure didn't feel like making a full circle around the borders just to find some silly hole in the wall.

"That will be too much work. Why don't we find the places they would most likely gather and look for clues,"

"Were not here to find evidence of their dealings, we're here to find out where they have gone. Finding the other entrance will at least give us a starting point to their little race."

"But the more evidence we find about their drug sells, the better the chance we have to get them sent to jail. You know as well as I know the court system in America is littered with snakes. As long as we have a strong list of charges, we won't have to worry about the trial taking a million years."

"We won't have to worry about the trials at all if we don't find them!"

"L is doing more than enough work to locate them. Our job should be to look for more evidence!" Matt did not back down. Without his cigarette's, he certainly didn't want to do more work than necessary.

"The fool has nothing to go on! He has to relay on the local police to find them, and we both know what a wonderful job they have done for us so far!" Mello fought back, referring to the inexcusable money under the mattress moment.

"And you think some stupid hole in the wall will tell us where a small group of criminals went?"

"You're just being lazy! You don't want to look for the second entrance because it will be too much work!"

"I'm being practical! The less time we waste here, the more time we get to look at more important locations!"

"A real detective doesn't just look around a room and call it good! They study that room from top to bottom until they are certain they have gathered all the evidence they can find!"

"If you haven't noticed Mello…" Matt spread his arms out. "This is a body farm, which means acres of land we would have to explore! We certainly don't have the time or the resources to cover all this!" Matt's voice echoed.

"You indolent piece of…!" But before Mello could finish his insult, a gun was fired from a distances. Matt and Mello ducked for cover behind one of the giant tires among the piles of trash. They were caught by surprise, and it showed by the expressions they were making. Mello quickly pulled out his gun and got it loaded. Matt followed in suit, making sure to adjust his goggle so they wouldn't block his vision.

"Hey Mello?" Matt's breath came out shaky.

"What is it?" Mello peeked around the tire. As soon as he got a visual of the scene before him, another fire was shot and he was forced back behind the tire. But he did manage to see three men hiding behind other various pieces of trash. There could have been more, but he didn't have that long to look.

"Maybe we should have checked if there were still members here…"

Mello sneered at the thought of Matt being right. Matt could easily see the temperature rise in Mello, and it wouldn't be long before Mello got trigger happy. Luckily for Matt, if Mello killed them all, then he wouldn't have to fill out any of the paperwork when they got back home. There was nothing more excruciatingly boring then having to fill out paperwork.

* * *

"You can all bow down to my greatness." Alice walked into the room with her hands up in the air, as if she were waiting to catch the compliments. Both L and Near stopped with what they were doing to see her sashay into the room like a primadonna.

"I thought you went to get some sleep? It's almost four in the morning," L checked the time.

"No no sir, I was doing a little research of my own." Her chin was held high. She had a smile so smug, it nearly inflated her head.

"What research would this be?"

"The kind where only my abilities can accomplish and I'll be happy to say they were successful."

"Oh?" Near said next. "And what were your results?"

"I know where to find the suppliers," she beamed.

"Impressive!" L was excited, but he didn't give away his excitement so soon.

"Yes, I know." She flipped some of her hair back. It wasn't often L would give her real compliments, so she was going to milk it for all it was worth.

"So where are they?" Near finally stood up after hours of doing work on the floor. The muscles in his legs rejected the movement at first, but the ache subsided as quickly as it had come.

"They are…uh...well I don't know exactly, but Doug said he would show me where they were."

"Doug? You ghost friend?" L wondered.

"That's right. He knows where they went, and he could lead us to them."

"Could we meet him?" L pulled away from his computer. There was nothing on his screen that interested him anymore.

"What?" Alice was taken aback. L couldn't possibly see Doug, and Doug was so intimidated by L and Near, that there was no way he would ever show himself. She could always force him to come, but she knew he wouldn't stay.

"Would he be willing to tell us directly?" L asked once more, believing Alice truly didn't hear his first question.

"I would like to meet a ghost." Near sounded eager. Alice looked back and forth between the two boys, wondering if she should even try.

"Is there a problem?" L grew worried after seeing her brows crease.

"I don't think Doug would want to speak to either of you."

"Why is that?" L tilted his head. The act looked innocent, but Alice knew all too well how malevolent L could be.

"He's just really shy." Alice lied, not wanting to hurt her new boyfriend's feelings.

"That's too bad; I would have liked to have seen a ghost." Near was disappointed.

"Would he be willing to go on camera?" L made another suggestion. Alice rolled her eyes.

"You won't be able to see him, he's a ghost silly."

"Yes, but there are other ways to prove his existence,"

"Like what?"

L got up out of his chair and shuffled over to the girl. She thought he was reaching for her hand, but to her shock, he reach inside of her front pocket of her pants and pulled out her cell phone.

"L!" She blushed like mad after he got the phone.

"Calm down Ace, I'm going to give you Mr. Alchi's number. You need to call him and tell him you are on your way over."

"Wha…? Why?"

"For my experiment to work, there has to be another person, and since Douglas won't show himself to us, then I'm sure he won't have trouble showing himself to you and Mr. Alchi."

"What experiment? Will I have to do anything dangerous?"

"Absolutely not, all I will require is a basic understanding of mathematics."

Alice felt the phone being slipped into her hand. L Pushed the call button and moved Alice's arm so the phone was pressed against her ear. He held it there for safety measures. He also didn't mind holding onto her hand. That certainly was a bonus.

She didn't know why he was guiding her. It wasn't as if she was incapable of moving her own arm. At least, she thought she could move it. She wasn't willing to try yet after noticing her legs felt like jelly. Was that L's fault she couldn't move properly?

Alice heard the phone ring once. It didn't take long for Zeek to answer, "Hey phone person, who's calling?"

Alice immediately was thrown into a good mood. Hearing Zeek's voice made her realize how much she missed his laid back personality.

"Zeek, it's me, Ace,"

"Hey little elf! What's going on? You would not believe the kind of service this hotel has. I can order room service whenever I want and this butler dude brings it to me! He even brought me a computer so I could play my game!"

"That's great Zeek," Alice gently smiled, reminding herself to thank Watari later.

"You bet it is; I've been up all night getting my kingdom back in order. The Emerald forest has got a serious sprite infestation. The little buggers keep stealing my potions. Wait…" Zeek paused. "It's really late, why are you calling?"

"I'm going to come visit you." Her smile grew.

"That's awesome! We can take down these sprites together. I'm sure Doug won't mind if you play _LoveHearts_ again."

"Sounds like fun," she giggled. She then felt L's hand squeeze her own. It was his signal to end the conversation. "Alright Zeek, I'll see you soon," and before she could even hear Zeek's good-bye, L hung up the phone.

"Hey, you didn't have to do that," she whined as she watched L close her phone. L swiftly put the phone back into her front pocket and then reached in his own to pull out a key. Without saying another word, he grabbed her hand and plopped the key onto her open palm.

"This will get you into Zeek's room," he instructed. Alice gasped.

"You have Zeek locked up?"

"I couldn't have him running around this hotel freely."

"He wouldn't do anything wrong!"

"I'm sure he won't, but you can never be too cautious."

Alice ripped her hand from his and clenched the key into her fist. She gave L a look that clearly showed she was angry, and then stormed out the door to go find Zeek's room. Thankfully the room number was on the key, so she didn't have to worry about asking L.

"I'm going to go kill some sprites with Zeek!" She shouted on her way out. L found her little outburst to be charming, but he didn't dwell over it for long. He had his side of the job to do, which meant he was going to need Near's help.

"Near, grab your laptop and come with me, we are moving the control center."

"Yes L."

* * *

Matt checked the pulse of the last man Mello shot. There was nothing to indicate the man was alive, so Matt pronounced him dead. He should have known anyway since there was blood shooting out of the guy's head, but he had to be professional about the whole ordeal, so he made the effort to check all the men. Originally there had been three, but as time when on and more shots were fired, Mello managed to take out ten. Now all that was left were a pile of dead bodies. Ironically, this would have been a good place to keep them since it used to be a body farm. Matt wouldn't be surprised if there were still other decaying bodies lying around. If he had to take a guess, he would say the body farm was used for hiding the drug dealer's kills. That would explain the smell and why the men who were killed were so intent on protecting the place.

"Your aim is always impeccable." Matt smirked as he forced himself up from his squatting position. Mello only gave Matt a grunt for a response. Taking compliments for Mello was like celebrating his own birthday. He could care less. "Well now that we've managed to kill a horde of men, how about we move on to the next place? I'm getting bored of the body farm,"

Mello sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He knew there was nothing left at the body farm too. Having massacred ten of the gang members, he was able to acclaim a couple dozen articles of evidence from their wallets and pockets. He even got a few cell phones. And judging by the direction they were coming from, he could assume that was where the second entrance was.

"How should we dispose of them?" Mello pointed to the scattered bodies. Matt rubbed his chin to think.

"Calling the cops would make us have to explain ourselves, and that would take too long. Let's just make this look like a fight between two gangs," he proposed.

"Sounds good to me," Mello agreed. Matt smiled and went straight to work. It didn't take long for his plan to come together. By the end of the night, the place looked as if a war between two rival gangs had taken place. A couple guns here, and few article of clothing there, and voila, the scene was staged.

"Did you have to give that guy sunglasses?" Mello stepped back to get a better look at Matt's work.

"Hey, just be thankful I didn't match those sunglasses with a scarf."

"Ugh," Mello looked away, not wanting to discuss it any longer. "Where do we go next?" He quickly moved on. Matt promptly pulled out his PSP and made the necessary clicking noises to come up with the answer.

"Here we are," he said. "We are going back into the city. Luther Street, off of Pebbles and 23rd. Looks like we get to investigate a pawn shop."

"This better be worth it." Mello grumbled as he began his walk towards the direction of the second entrance. He wasn't going to walk through that mud again. It was bad enough he got a little blood on his boots.

"Well at least the pawn shop won't be abandoned. I'd like to finally have a friendly chat with somebody without having to shoot them." Matt followed right behind Mello.

* * *

Alice stood poised in front of Zeek's door. With the key in her hand, she waited quietly to hear any noises coming from the room. She wanted to know he was in there. She wanted to hear his voice on the other side of the door. When she finally heard Zeek's boisterous cheer, it compelled her to quickly unlock his door. She was inside the room in a matter of seconds.

Her first observation was of Zeek sitting on the floor with his legs crossed into a pretzel. He had large headphones covering his ears and a laptop on his lap. He was quiet at first, but it didn't take him long to start shouting various indiscriminate combat attacks. Several included swinging a whip while others had odd names that strangely resembled brands of bath soups. But shrugging off Zeek's odd gaming jargon, she swooped over and reach out so she could tap him on the shoulder. Zeek whipped off his headphones and gave Alice the biggest smile. She never felt so happy to see somebody smile other than Watari.

"Little elf! You came!" He held out his arms. Alice gave into his offer for a hug and got down on her knees so she could wrap her arms around his torso.

"I can't believe I missed you this much!" She was amazed at how nice the hug felt. It was as if she was reuniting with her best friend after being apart for years. She wondered if reuniting with Eric would feel the same way.

"I missed you too little elf. Shall we celebrate our togetherness with some sprite hunting? I've got a wicked crossbow for _LoveHearts_ that I think you'll enjoy."

Alice pulled out of the hug and gave Zeek a pat on the shoulder. Hearing Doug's name reminded her of what she was really there for.

"Speaking of Doug, I was hoping you could help me with something."

"What do you need?"

"I was going to call Doug and see if he'll talk to us," she gave him a simple answer, because she didn't even know what L wanted her to do. She assumed there was a camera somewhere in the room and L would call her with more instructions.

"You can do that? You can get Doug to come talk to us?" Zeek got exited.

"I sure can, but I just wanted to make sure you would be okay with it."

"That sounds awesome!" she wasn't surprised to hear. "I want to talk to my buddy! Is he here now?"

"Not yet," she cracked her knuckles. She didn't need to wait for L's order. She assumed he was already watching anyway with the camera. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on Doug's appearance. "Doug, time to come say hello to your friend!"

The room fell silent for a moment, and Alice wondered if her little trick had finally failed her, but a flash of light caught the corner of her eye. The light faded as fast as it had come, and it left behind the spirit she had been hoping would make an appearance. Doug stood in front of the door with a look of confusion. It was his second time being summoned, and Alice could tell he still wasn't sure how it was happening to him.

"What's going on now?" he wondered, eying Zeek like a cornered rat. Doug looked terrified, which was not what Alice had expected. Zeek was looking around the room as if he expected to see Doug pop up in front of him. Alice wondered if Zeek could see the dead since he was able to sense Doug a couple times before. But now that Doug was there, it was clear to Alice that she was still the only one who could see the deceased. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Is he here? I'm getting those weird vibes again." Zeek finally focused on Alice after giving up his search. Alice gave one last look to Doug to make sure he wasn't going to run out the room like a scared child. Doug may have been petrified, but he looked like he was going to stay, so Alice answered Zeek.

"He's here, but I'm not sure how much longer he's willing to stay."

Doug ruffled his hair and made a noise between a grunt and a whimper. "Why are you doing this to me?" He gave Alice a pathetic look. Alice snorted.

"Stop whining and talk to your friend."

"But it's my fault he almost got killed!" Doug got more pathetic. Alice started to feel a stab of pain between her brows. She rubbed the bridge of her noise to relief the pain.

"So don't you think apologizing would be a first great step to forgiveness?"

"Forgiveness?" Zeek interrupted the two unknowingly. "What's my buddy got to be sorry about?"

Doug looked away in shame, as if he suspected Zeek could see him. Alice rolled her eyes. Usually she was sympathetic to the dead, but hearing Doug's sad excuse for not talking to Zeek made her want to slap him. Just because he felt bad about almost killing his friend did not mean he should just live the rest of his life moping about it. Alice wanted Doug to move on, and he couldn't very well do that with that sort of weight on his shoulders.

"Doug wants to tell you he's sorry for putting you in danger."

Doug gasped and pointed a finger at Alice.

"Hey! Don't just start putting words in my mouth!"

Alice would have waited for Zeek's response, but Doug was pissing her off even more.

"I'm trying to help you! Say you're sorry and get over it!"

"But you made me sound like a robot! I would never just apologize without putting some heart into it!"

"Then what the hell do you want me to say?" Alice tossed her arms up. Zeek didn't have a clue as to what was going on with her.

"The vibes in this room have gotten pretty sour; maybe you two should calm down and take a deep breath."

Alice clicked her tongue to try and do exactly what Zeek told her. The breathing part was easy; the calming down part was not. Doug merely crossed his arms and turned his back to them. Alice convinced herself that it was just Doug's way of calming down.

Suddenly the phone in Alice's pocket started going off. She retrieved it quickly, knowing it was L. She could gladly use a break from her deep breathing exercises.

* * *

"Good timing," L heard Alice answer her phone.

"I would agree." L did the last finishing touches to connect his computer to the router. The room he was in was dark, but the computer coming to life made for a useful light source. "You seemed like you were getting pretty upset with this Douglas fellow."

"Yeah well, he was being difficult." Alice snorted hotly. She obviously wasn't through being angry yet.

"Well I hope you can make amends with him, because I would like to work on our experiment soon."

"Yeah sure," She didn't sound convincing, but L ignored it. "Just tell me where the camera is."

"There is no camera."

Alice was quiet for a moment, soaking in the last few words L had told her. Then she went off on him.

"Are you telling me that you have Zeek locked up, but there are no cameras in here watching him? How the hell did you know I was fighting with Doug? Do you have this placed tapped with microphones or something?"

"Yes, there are microphones, but their purpose isn't to be recorded. Instead, they are connected to speakers in the room adjacent to the one you are in now. I am currently positioned behind the wall you are facing away from."

L watched as Alice did a full circle before she came to a stop facing the wall he had told her about. There were many changes L had made to the hotel, and of course he couldn't go without a one way window somewhere inside of the building. Usually he added the window to the interrogation rooms, but he had a change of heart after knowing he had to keep Zeek somewhere. Thus Zeek's room was watched over by Watari with the use of the one way window.

"I don't understand. All I see is a large painting of an old bakery."

"That would be the window."

"You're kidding me," Alice gapped, getting closer to the window. Zeek watched her with curiosity as well, unsure of Alice's new behavior.

"Joking is not one of my strong suits." L had to admit.

"Well this place just keeps getting weirder…" Alice knocked on the painting.

"Not as strange as your argument with a dead man."

"Fine, were even." Alice smirked, not knowing L's hand was placed right over Alice's behind the window. The little moment allowed L to smile for the first time in weeks.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!**  
**

**SpringBorn, Bree Renee, hikari-hime 01, nadzuke eno mono, ****tootsiepop101**, **NiiNiiChii**, **BibiNyan**, **Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit**, **jssjessica**, **ShnieseAce**, **Guest**, **CrazyinAbottle**, HybridRebellion, Vampirekittiz, RedVelvetPanda, NotAStalker, Harvey the Wonder Hamster, Sofia10Soccer, freaksforever, Spark of the forgotten, and ZombiChirp. (THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME REACH MY DREAM OF OVER 1,000 REVIEWS! I'm like shaking...I'm not sure if its from the ten cookies I just ate, or the concussion I got from fainting after I saw the review count, but either way I wanted to thank you for supporting me! YOU ALL MAKE ME SO HAPPY! and strangely more accident-prone...)**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Sweet! I'm getting better at this. xD This next riddle I've actually heard before, and I'm not sure if it was you who asked me or not. The answer is darkness, but to tell you the truth, this riddle could have more answers, such as blindness, cataracts, and alcohol. The more alcohol you consume, the more blind you are of your actions. hehe~**  
**

**Kashagal and Natures Ruler: ***Raises arms up in the air* I'm fine! I'm fine! No need to worry because I can promise you I'm not going anywhere until I complete this story. I've made a pact to myself that I will finish this till the end! To make sure I stick to that pact, I post a chapter within a two week period. =D**  
**

**Yumeno: **Do you want recommendations from this site, or books in general? If you want to know some from this website, then for Death Note, I recommend _AnimeRANDOMNESS's_ "Shortcake". She hasn't updated in a while, but I'm sure with some encouragement, she will. There was a MelloXOC story that's been completed that's really good. It's called . "Subtract, Add, Unite and Conquer" written by _Miss Bright_. As for books, if you haven't read the plum series by Janet Evanovich, then you must! It's hilarious and always puts a smile on my face.**  
**

**Forever-Buckskin: **Congratulations for making it all the way through my story so far! I know its long, so I hope my story didn't keep you away from anything important. Thank you so much for your kind words! You made me a very happy author! xD**  
**

**Angel Ayame: **Am I the Death Note queen you are referring to? *tries to comprehend* **  
**

**uniquename200's NEW ACCOUNT: **I would be delighted to read your story! In fact I've already read the first chapter and was hooked to read more. It's not easy to pull a reader in for the first chapter, so I commend you for that. I promise to read the rest soon, but I'm curious about whether you either just want my opinion or some advice as well. I don't want to come off as some know-it-all and think my story is any better, because I know it's not. But from one writer to another, I would be happy to give you a review that could be helpful. **  
**

**Konran: **I'm not sure if you made it this far, but I wanted to tell you that I do appreciate your review. The spelling/grammar stuff is actually something I've been trying to work on since the start of this story. I know how bad I am at it, and I probably should get an editor for this story instead of trying to edit it myself. I'm not a very good editor, but aside from my pathetic attempts to make my story free from misspellings, I understand your thoughts about Alice's personality. I wanted to make a character who had a personalty that stood out among the Wammy house, and making her irresponsible and illogical did just that. Shes the opposite of my personality, there's no doubt about that, which is probably why I created her. Also, L's out of character antics are something I've been trying to work out as well. L is the hardest character for me to write about. Since he was going to be my love interest for this story, I knew I was going to have to tweak his personality a little just to get him to fall in love, otherwise my story we go nowhere. But I completely understand what you meant by his multiple scenes of smiling, and hopefully as this story has progressed, I've managed to tone that down. Again, thank you for helping me understand what I should work on. If I never got reviews like yours, then I would never be able to improve myself as a writer. =D (Sorry, long response.)**  
**

**Speckles719: **I haven't had the time to make the cookies yet, but I get the feeling I'm going to love them. I love jam and I love cookies. Putting the two together sounds like a mix between amazing and delicious, so I can't wait to get started on those! Every recipe you've given me so far has been amazing, and I know I've thanked you about a hundred times, but I'm going to thank you a hundred more for sharing them with me. I don't have that many cook books, and I can never find any good recipe's online, so you are my favorite source so far**. **I Also wouldn't want a monster cookie to take over the universe. Sure he would make a excellent snack, but as a ruler? I'm not so sure. xD**  
**


	54. Mission 2: The Ace

I've got more Fan-Art!

*Squeals*

It's of Alice dressed up as Jack Sparrow, so please go to my profile and check it out!

The artwork was drawn by _Vsat101, _and it's absolutely adorable!

I'm so happy right now, I could cry!

*Takes a deep breath*

I'm such a lush...

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note)_

* * *

**Mission 2: The Ace**

"Why are you tapping on that painting?" Zeek asked from his position on the floor. He was still in front of his computer, but he had longed turned away from his screen to talk to Alice. Alice was standing in front of a large painting, staring at it as if she could magically see L on the other side. But there was a reason it was called a one-way window. There was no possible way for her to see beyond the colorful artwork of an old town bakery. So, she gave up and focused her attention back on Zeek. L was on the phone with her, anyway, so seeing him ultimately didn't matter. She had other people to deal with, which included a very touchy ghost.

"I thought it looked pretty," she lied to Zeek.

Zeek raised an eyebrow, but did not further his questioning towards her new obsession with the painting. Instead, he went to ask about Doug, who was still standing by the door. Zeek could not see him, but Alice sure could. The way he was biting his nails told Alice he was anxious and uncomfortable.

"Why does my buddy want to apologize?"

Alice gave Doug a look, hoping maybe he would finally grow a pair and give her something to say, but alas, he hunched further into the corner and tried to make himself smaller. At least he wasn't running away. He may have been feeling remorse, but as long as he was still in the room, Alice had hope.

"Doug was the one who stole the money. He never told you and, in the end, he almost got you killed for it. He feels just awful for putting you in danger."

"But he doesn't have to apologize for that." Zeek surprised her. It was her turn to raise one eyebrow. Even Doug uncurled himself from a ball to hear what his friend was saying. "I betcha he stole the money for good reasons. He would never do something without having a good reason for it. He was always an honest dude."

Alice could have sworn she saw tears in Doug's eyes. He was soaking up Zeek's words like a sponge, but he obviously wasn't retaining the water very well.

"He almost got you killed, and you don't think he should say he's sorry?"

Zeek shook his head.

Alice was at a loss for words, but Doug didn't mind voicing his opinion next: "He's always been so forgiving! I would hug him right now if I could!" Alice wasn't sure if this was right, but if it helped Doug to pass over, then who was she to say it was wrong?

"You made Doug very happy," she told Zeek, who was finally getting up off the floor.

"How much longer is this going to take?" L scared her. She had almost forgotten she was still talking to him on the phone.

"What do you want me to do?" She ran her hand through her hair.

"Just a simple experiment."

"Care to elaborate?"

There was a moment of pause and some ruffling of papers before L answered her. "I need you to instruct Mr. Alchi to look in the bottom drawer of the nightstand. There he will find notecards. You must not look at them. They are only for Mr. Alchi's eyes. Your job is to figure out what is written down on those notecards. With the help of Douglas, I'm sure this won't be difficult for you."

Alice didn't waste any time motioning at Zeek. She was finally going to give L legitimate proof of Doug's existence, so she didn't want to waste a second more with idle chitchat.

"Zeek, look in that drawer for some notecards." She pointed to the nightstand. She then addressed Doug, who was wiping away some last-minute tears. "Doug, you're going to help me find out what's written on those notecards."

"These notecards?" Zeek asked, pulling out a small stack of white, thick stock paper.

"Yes. Make sure you hide the contents from me. In fact—" Alice made her way over to the bed. She grabbed hold of one of the many pillows and ripped off the pillowcase. "—I'll blind myself so there's no possible way for me to see." She smiled.

"Excellent." L sounded pleased over the phone.

"What do you want me to do?"

Doug inched his way closer to Alice, finding his courage after struggling to overcome his remorse. Alice sat down on the bed with one hand holding her cell phone and the other holding onto the pillowcase. She pointed to Zeek with the pillowcase hand and ordered Doug to stand behind him. Doug looked hesitant at first, but did as he was told.

Zeek momentarily looked behind him, hoping maybe he could see his friend. But all he saw was a blank wall with some paint peeling off. "What are we doing?" he wondered after giving up his search.

Alice was happy to answer. "We are going to prove Doug's existence and my psychic abilities."

"But I already believe you; what's there to prove?" Zeek tilted his head.

"It's not you I have to prove this to—it's my boss."

"You mean that detective dude?" Zeek started to get excited.

"That's the one," she chirped.

"Wicked."

Alice chuckled, glad to see he was on board with the experiment.

L interrupted her laughter, knowing there was a time restraint that he had to comply with. The longer they stayed away from the case, the easier it was for the criminals to escape to Mexico. "We should start our experiment. The microphones in the room will allow me to hear you, so you can free you hand from the cell phone now."

"Okay." Alice hid her disappointment. She liked hearing L's voice, but having a free hand would give her less of a distraction.

"Good luck." Those were L's last words before the line went dead.

Alice's disappointment turned into irritation. She'd later have to give L a lecture on how to properly say good-bye on the phone. Sighing heavily, she tossed her phone behind her onto the bed and covered her head with the pillowcase. She knew she looked ridiculous, but it was all for a good cause.

"Let's start. Zeek, don't say a word about what's on those cards, unless I get it right."

"Roger!"

* * *

Matt picked up a shrunken head. It had dark thick hair and its mouth sewn shut. Even its skin was shriveled like a raisin. It was disturbing, but Matt knew it wasn't real (there was a tag that claimed it was made in China). Both he and Mello had made it to the pawn shop a couple minutes ago, and he was trying to find some sort of distraction while his friend spoke with the pawn shop owner.

"Have you seen any of these men before?" Mello pulled out a piece of paper with multiple pictures of criminals.

The owner, who was short and round with little hair on his balding head, gave the piece of paper a quick glance. Mello noticed how little the owner cared; he didn't even give the pictures a second look before he replied. "There are hundreds of men that come to my shop. I don't remember what they look like."

Mello certainly didn't like that answer, but, to Matt's surprise, Mello didn't shout. He kept calm, which was very much unlike Mello's interrogational tactic. Maybe he was finally starting to learn how to communicate with people after what he had done to Alice.

"Could you take another look?"

The round middle-aged man grunted and looked once more. Matt could tell the bald man was humoring Mello, but the blond didn't say a word. He applauded Mello for keeping his cool. As the owner scanned the paper, Matt observed his expression go from a deep frown to a sneer of disgust. He recognized one of the men's photos, and there was some amount of hate the old man harbored for this person. To Matt's relief, the balding man pointed to the bottom left picture. The old man didn't know it at the time, but if he hadn't given Mello any information, then he would have surely suffered a fate worse than death. Mello was not against using torture.

"This guy," he spat. Mello looked at the photo where the chubby man's finger was. There was a young man of Spanish descent with tattoos on his neck and shoulders. Alanzo was the criminal's name, and he was notorious for obtaining some of the harder drugs; drugs that could potentially bring in thousands of dollars.

"How do you know this man?"

"He comes in my store almost every other day. Stirs up a lot a trouble."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Are you a cop or something?" The old man finally asked the question; Matt was wondering what had taken him so long.

Mello debated the answer in his head for a while. "I don't work for the police." He gave an honest answer. The truth was, the police worked for him.

The old man looked skeptical at first, but by the amount of leather Mello was wearing, it was hard to believe he could be involved with the police, especially at such a young age. So, the old man went on to answering Mello's last question: "The last time I saw him was on the fifteenth."

"Was he with anyone at the time?"

The man shrugged. "I don't remember. He comes so often it's hard to remember who he's with."

Mello took the answer with a grain of salt. It was better than nothing. At least he could work with the information he now had about Alanzo.

"Has there been any other suspicious activity around this neighborhood?"

"Listen boy, I have a business to run. I got nothing else to tell you."

Matt shook his head, knowing what was coming next. The old man had a good run until _that_ moment.

Mello scoffed, scrunching up his nose as if he smelled something foul. With his right hand, Mello used speeds no normal human being should be capable of and grabbed the old man's shirt. He tugged him forward, making sure to look the old man in the eyes. The old man's fearful expression reflected off of Mello's own blue daggers. Matt was surprised the guy hadn't fainted right then and there.

"Hey!" The man's voice cracked.

"I've got my own business to attend to, and the longer I have to be here, the more impatient I get. So, either you tell me everything you know, or I'll cut your head open to find the answers myself!"

A flash of steel caught in the old man's eyes. It was brief, but there was no mistaking the blade under Mello's jacket. Sweat dripped down the old man's bald head. He'd run a pawn shop for years, and he'd had his fair share of delinquents come in to try and scare him, but he'd never met this kind of fear in his life. Mello had a certain…gift when it came to intimidation, no matter how big or small his opponent was. That was why Matt was allowing Mello to do the talking. For one, Matt didn't mind exploring the shop, and two, he always enjoyed the entertainment.

The old man looked like he was about to pee his pants, and Matt couldn't have been more delighted.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you!"

Mello immediately let go of the man's shirt, watching him stagger backwards. The fear never left his eyes, and he sang like a bird.

"Once in a while, I'll have these two Hispanic guys come around to drop something off for my shop. They always have something nice, like guitars or expensive jewelry. They sell me the good stuff and for a cheap price."

"The chances of those items being stolen are pretty high. Don't you have a law that restricts you from buying anything stolen?"

"Yes, but I have a good thing going for me. I'm off the cop's radar, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Mello didn't care about the old man's dirty purchases. His main focus was the two men who brought the stuff in. "Who are the two Hispanic men?"

"I only heard one of their names, and I'm pretty sure it was a nickname. He called himself Wolf."

Mello hated nicknames. Well, that wasn't all true. He hated those outside of the Wammy's House who had nicknames. If he had a choice, though, he would never use a nickname. Especially the one given to him. Some days he wondered if his nickname _was_ a joke.

"Is that all?" Mello made sure to sound sharp. Seeing the old man flinch gave him the reassurance that it worked.

"That's all, I promise you!"

Mello gave the man one last glare before he turned around. "Matt, let's go." He waved to his friend who was playing with an electric piano.

Matt immediately pulled away from the instrument and smiled over at the old man behind the counter. He gave a friendly wave good-bye on his way over to the exit.

"Thanks for all your help," were Matt's first and last departing words as he followed Mello outside.

It was a successful stop and, once again, Matt didn't have to do a thing. The missions were turning out to be easier than he initially thought. Maybe he could stop for some coffee on the way to their next destination—God knows he could use something to stop that annoying twitch he got after hours of not smoking.

* * *

"Are you sure about this, little elf?" Zeek flipped through some of the cards.

At least, that's what Alice assumed he was doing. She couldn't see him through the pillowcase, but she could hear him shuffling through some papers. The way he asked the question made Alice slightly on edge. What was written on those cards that made Zeek worried?

"I can do this as long as Doug is here."

"I'm here," Doug said, giving her reassurance. It was exactly what she needed to calm her nerves. She wasn't sure why she was nervous and having a pillowcase over her head wasn't helping the situation.

"Shall we begin?" Alice initiated. Zeek quickly shuffled the papers back to their original order and coughed to show her he was ready. As she took a deep breath, she only prayed Doug would tell her the right thing to say. She had to completely trust him, which was enough hard to do after just getting out of an argument with the guy. He could easily make her look like the fool in the room.

"Uh…" She heard Doug's voice through the thin sheet. The fact that he was stalling made her heart start to race. Maybe the cards were written in a different language or some weird code that Doug was unfamiliar with. Would L give them a challenge like that?

"It's an equation." The ghost started to laugh.

Alice felt her left eye twitch. "What does the equation say, Doug?" She took in a deep breath; her relief far outweighed her annoyance toward Doug.

Before Doug answered her, Zeek gasped. "You know it's an equation? No way!"

Alice ignored Zeek's outburst, waiting to hear from Doug. She preferred to hear that kind of excitement from L, anyway.

"The card wants you to add five plus five." Doug sounded confused, but Alice knew not to rush for the answer. L specifically told her to relay whatever was on those cards. He never said to give him answers, so she was going to do as she was told. "Five plus five."

"That's it!" Zeek gasped once more. He was definitely more excited about the experiment then she was.

"Next." Alice snapped her finger. She wanted to get through the cards quickly so she could see L's face. She hoped it would mirror Zeek's, because he sounded like he was going to explode. She could even feel the floor underneath her shake from his jumps.

"Okay, try to guess this one!" Doug looked over Zeek's shoulder and frowned.

The silence yet again made Alice's stomach do flips. _Why is Doug so slow?_

"These just keep getting weirder," Doug mumbled. It was enough to make Alice's eye twitch for a second time.

"Could you please just tell me what's on the card," she sighed.

Unfortunately, her request was misunderstood by Zeek. "I can't do that, little elf. You have to figure it out."

"Not you, Zeek— I was talking to Doug."

"Oh, right."

"Is this supposed to be a picture of some sort?" Doug scratched his head.

Alice formed a hard line with her lips. "Picture? Of what?"

"You're good, little elf."

"Shoosh, Zeek." She had to put an end to his commenting.

Zeek shut his mouth immediately.

"Not really sure…It looks like a dog humping a man's leg."

Alice instantly remembered the buttons on the plane ride to Paris. It was her first mission outside of Wammy's House with L, and her first time alone with the great detective. Thinking back, she started to blush when she remembered all the cute nicknames she gave him. Maybe she would use one of them again…

"Is it a picture of one of those buttons on an airplane? I vaguely remember mentioning that one of them looked like a dog humping a man's leg."

"Is that what that is?" Zeek thought aloud, turning the card sideways.

_Beep!_

_"That is correct, Ace. Continue with the next card." _L's voice was distorted. He must have not trusted Zeek enough to want to use his real one.

"Jesus?" Zeek looked around the room.

Alice shook her head. "Zeek, no."

Doug was next to speak: "Your boss is creepy."

"Thank you, Doug. Now, can we move on?"

"Right. Here's the next card." Doug got focused.

Alice waited with as much patience as she could muster.

"Oh, I got this one! It's a quote. It says, '_A house divided against itself cannot stand.' _ByAbraham Lincoln."

"Lincoln quote— nice touch. '_A house divided against itself cannot stand.'"_

"That's right! I can't believe you knew that!" Zeek started to jump some more. Alice couldn't stop the smile that came next. Doug was doing a brilliant job; she'd have to thank him later for cooperating.

* * *

L watched through the window like he was looking into a whole new world. Near was right by his side, unable to look away from the experiment.

Near was so enthralled by it that he even stopped twisting his hair. "So, this is real," he said mostly to himself.

L played with a sugar cube on his desk, his eyes never looking away from the girl with the pillow case over her head. Alice had suggested herself she would eliminate her vision all together just to prove her point. L had never been so proud of her commitment before. He applauded her stamina for lasting as long as she has. She'd worked so hard to get to this point, and she was willing to do everything in her power to illustrate proof of her abilities. L was a believer, even before the experiment started. But having Near as his witness just made the whole ordeal that much more real to him. There was no mistaking her gift; she was talking to Doug, even though L (or anybody else, for that matter) could not see him.

When she announced the first card, L gave in to a little of his adrenalin. When she answered the second notecard right, L nearly allowed himself to smile. By the third, he was almost ready to laugh, which by Watari's standards meant L was going off the deep end. So, he contained all his emotions until the very end. He had a reputation to uphold, which meant keeping a level head. He had to stick with logic, even if he was staring down the most illogical phenomena that ever existed.

"Quite extraordinary," L allowed himself to say for the moment. It was the most emotion he was willing to show at the moment.

_"Doug, stop laughing and tell me what's on the damn card!"_ L overheard Alice on the speakers. For some odd reason, she was getting more frustrated with her ghost friend. L, of course, could not hear anything Doug was saying, yet Alice was becoming more impatient by the second. L hoped Alice's relationship with Doug would not become strained, because, by what Alice had told him earlier, Doug was the only connection he had to find the suppliers. If Doug were to become upset and leave, L would be right back at square one.

_"Why is it that you find the word 'banana' funny? It's a word, Doug, not a gag you find in one of those prank shops." _

Yet again, Alice had revealed what was written on the notecard without even looking. L was impressed, and his brain raced with possibilities for the use of her gift. Her abilities to sense the unknown and talk to the dead were going to be his greatest asset by far. And not to mention she was delightful to work with, even if she occasionally went astray.

"She got it right." Near checked off another item. He was in charge of the list, counting down the number of times she predicted the right answer. But by now, L was absolutely sure she wasn't making any predictions. There was a ghost in that room helping her, and his name was Douglas Brown.

* * *

"Can't we talk about this?"

"No."

"Mello, what have I told you about acting like a five-year-old girl?"

_"Shut the fuck up!"_ Mello flipped off his friend, demonstrating how much of a child he was not. They were both walking down an empty street, looking for the building with the address that was supposedly demolished a couple years back. But word on the street told Matt and Mello that the building was never taken down. It was still in use, and not for purposes of good intent.

"I really think we should call L," Matt pushed again. For the past thirty minutes, Matt had been trying to convince Mello to call L to tell him about the so-called demolished building. It was never put on the list of places to go, so Matt assumed L didn't know about it. This meant both he and Mello were walking into a crime scene with a blindfold on. Without L's background check on the place, they had no idea what they were going to see. If it wasn't going to be a part of the drug dealing case, then he had no doubt it would hold some other illegal trade. Matt was all for stopping crime, but he never got his coffee, and it'd been hours since his last cigarette. The last thing he needed was to enter another war zone with just a handgun and a pissed partner.

"I told you we don't need him."

"We don't know what we're going to find. There could be gang members with machine guns just waiting at the front doors."

"We aren't going to walk in and demand they hand themselves over."

"Then what are we doing? If you suggest a stakeout, then I'm heading right back to the car. I don't have enough damn patience to wait and see if they work for the dealers."

"We don't need to wait and see; I already know a part of the drug trade is being operated in this building." Mello adjusted his gloves.

Matt gave his a skeptical look. "So, tell me, then how do you know that?"

Mello stopped walking long enough to pull out one of the cell phones he picked off one of the men he killed back at the body farm. He switched it on and held it out for Matt to see.

"I found the address in this cell phone, and, if I'm not mistaken, the number that sent this guy the address was Alanzo himself. Putting the two together, I've got a pretty good hunch the dealers' business has moved to this place."

"Don't you think that's a stretch? Just because the guy has the address in his phone doesn't mean they moved the whole business to the place. They worked in a warehouse before. I doubt they would be able to fit their work in such a tight area."

Matt pointed to their surroundings. They were in a denser part of Houston; A place where the buildings almost looked like they were melting together. The only way for the buildings to grow was to build up, and that was exactly what they had done. Each building looked like it was getting taller, but that didn't make the area more populated. In fact, there was hardly anybody on the streets. Of course, it was still at a time were the people could've been asleep, but judging by the broken street lamps and the foggy atmosphere, Matt assumed there was nobody living close by. It wasn't exactly a family friendly neighborhood.

"How long have you been working as a detective? By now, I'd assume you know how adaptive criminals are."

Matt sighed and rubbed his forehead. Why did he even try to argue? Mello had that look in his eyes that said, "You're screwed, Matt."

Looked like he was going to fill out paperwork when he got home, after all.

* * *

"You're truly something, little elf. I wish I had psychic powers. I would totally use them to fight crime. I'd be like a real life super hero," Zeek said.

From the way he talked about it, Alice believed him. She could see Zeek going around in a costume with his underwear on the outside and a cape flowing behind him. Even if he didn't have psychic powers, she could still see Zeek wearing the costume. Maybe if she told him about his ability to sense the dead, he would start to work on his superhero persona. She could've used another player in her game. You know, the one where she almost got herself in deep trouble with a serial killer in France? No harm in having a sidekick, right?

"I only do as I'm told, Zeek. It's Doug who's giving me all the answers, remember?"

"No need to be humble, little elf." Zeek waved her off as he flipped to the next card.

They had almost gone through all the cards, and Alice was more than ready to be done. She was prepared to face L. She would even consider giving the detective a hug and a kiss on the cheek, if all else goes according to plan. She hoped to see L speechless. Heck, any other emotion besides the one he had on all the time would be nice.

"This next card is a doozy," Doug said.

Alice held her tongue. The entire time they had been reading cards, Doug had said or done something to annoy her. She tried ever so hard not to say anything, but she could tell by the fourth card he was doing it on purpose. He was getting revenge for forcing him to come here, and she didn't blame him. If Alice was a ghost and she was forced away from doing what she liked, she supposed she would be upset, too. So, she stopped complaining altogether, partially because she realized Doug was getting a kick out of her sassy attitude.

"The notecard has a long paragraph on it. It looks like it came from a play, because there are names written next to the dialogue. I don't really understand it. It doesn't look like English, but at the same time, I can read it."

Alice went through different possibilities of what it could be, but it didn't take her long to come to one of those possibilities of being a Shakespeare play. And if she had to guess, it was the one L tried to use on her earlier as a pick up line.

"Read it all the way through Doug. It's okay if you don't understand it."

He repeated the paragraph as best as could. Once in a while, he fumbled with the words that weren't used in the English language anymore, but beyond that, he did okay for somebody who hadn't read Shakespeare in a while. When he was finished, Alice took a deep breath and got herself ready to do the same.

"It's from Shakespeare. The play, _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. Helena speaks of some lover and the cupid dude who is blind. I would recite the whole thing, but I have short-term memory loss."

Okay, so she would have slaughtered the scene worse than Doug, but it wasn't as if she got the answer wrong: she just didn't want to have to repeat the entire line again. Just because L thought Shakespeare was overplayed didn't mean Alice disliked the guy. It was best if she didn't make his work sound like it came from a dying cat.

"I love Shakespeare, man," Zeek approved of the notecard. "I always thought his plays were moving. Tugged on the heart strings, you know?"

"You love Shakespeare?" Alice was surprised. She never thought Zeek would be the type to like that sort of thing.

"Yeah dude, his plays make you think." Zeek tapped his head.

"He was always the brilliant one." Doug was proud. Alice didn't want to say anything smart to ruin the moment, and who was she to say Zeek wasn't brilliant? He could have had an IQ as big as L's (though, she highly doubted that).

"Well, maybe sometime we'll go see one of his plays," she offered.

"Instead of seeing one of his plays, why don't we just act in one? I bet you would make a great Helena."

Alice had never seen _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, so whoever Helena was, she only hoped it wasn't one of the characters who died in the Act II.

"I'll think about it." She waved her hand. "Next card!"

* * *

Near checked off another correct answer. She was almost to the end, and she hadn't missed one notecard. He was truly amazed by her ability. He only wished he could see the ghost himself, wondering what it must feel like to have the spirits of the dead coming to him for help. He obviously wouldn't have been as lively as Alice was, but he certainly would use his ability to its fullest. There was no end to the possibilities of what he could accomplish.

"Do you think there are others out there like her?" Near asked L.

"There is nobody else out there like her." L answered him with a different set of thoughts. He hadn't been thinking about her psychic ability, but he wasn't going to tell Near that.

Suddenly interrupting their little chat, L's phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at his caller ID. At first, he wondered it if was Mello or Matt calling. But, to his surprise, it was the Chief of Police, Jonathan Howard. He flipped his phone open and greeted the chief with his usual monotone.

"Good morning, Chief Howard. How may I help you?"

"I'm starting to wonder if you really care about this case. It's been hours since your last call. You told me you had a lead. I want to hear about it."

L wasn't intimidated by the man at all. He may have had a deep gruff voice, but there was nothing about the man that made him big and scary, no matter how hard this particular chief tried.

"There is no need to worry, Mr. Howard. I do, in fact, have a lead that is even more reliable than the last."

"And what lead is this?" The Police Chief sounded irritated. He obviously didn't like working with L, and L felt the same way about him. But he didn't tell the chief about his ill feelings towards him. Instead, he watched Alice answer the last notecard with astounding accuracy. _"The card has a list of numbers: seven, twelve, fifty-five, seventy-six, twenty-four, one hundred three, two hundred forty-five, ninety-nine, and seventeen." _

_"That's right! You got them all right!"_ Zeek jumped in the air. Alice threw off her pillowcase and snagged the cards from Zeek, reading over the last few numbers she had just repeated.

A smile that would have even made Texas look small spread across her face. _"I did it! Doug, thank you so much!" _

"L!" The chief interrupted his enjoyment of watching Alice jump up and down with Zeek.

"Fret not, Mr. Howard." L finally allowed his emotions to surface. He did so with a small smirk and a sparkle in his eye. "I have an ace up my sleeve."

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**ShnieseAce, CrazyinAbottle, Serendipital, Kashagal and Natures Ruler, Bree Renee, uniquename200, Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit, Saber Amane, nadzuke eno mono, PhoenixBreaker90, ShaDow EmpIre, PreppyShinigami, Grey Psyche, Fraulein Kate, Alyssa, MsBlondiePunch, and Random persion. **(You all are so nice to me, I don't deserve it. Thank you to all of you who have taken some of your precious time out of your day just to read my story and tell me what you think. I don't think a simple thank you is enough to show how much I appreciate your reviews!)

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **At first I thought it could be the sun, but I don't see how we could surround the sun, so maybe it's an expecting mother? Because she looks at her belly from above but cannot touch her child. She surrounds her child but as soon as the child is born, the child becomes her whole world.

**ZombiChirp: **I have never heard L sing, but now I am intrigued. xD I wouldn't be surprised if he sounded good. I liked his voice actor.

**WhiteLadyDragon: **You are absolutely right. I shouldn't be tweaking his personality. I think I was just trying to make myself feel better when I said that. L is a difficult character for me and there were parts in my story that I did not feel I did him justice. But I have been working hard to change that, and when I complete this story I promised myself I would go back and fix some the problems I've had. I even got an editor to look over my story, so I hope to improve my technical skills as well. I really appreciate your review. I know you're a well acclaimed author on this site, so I do look up to your abilities as a writer. Thank you for reading my story!

**Vsat101: **Once again, thank you so much for your artwork! I LOVE IT! xD

**B. Asterfield: **I love rabbits! I want one so bad! Sorry to hear about your rabbit. Your cat sounds adorable. For some reason, I like them extremely chubby. I have a cat of my own, but she goes outside too much to get fat. At least she has a lot of fluffy black fur to make up for it. Anyway, I know I we've already exchanged pleasantries, but I just wanted to say thank you again for helping me. =)

**XxAmi-IzunexX: **Writing this story for so long, I've grown attached to it, so I am deeply grateful to those who have kept reading! Yes I am aware of my grammatical errors and have finally taken up an editor to help me with those, so hopefully I will improve on that. The editor will also be helping me to improve the story line, so when I do finish this story, I will go back and work out all the kinks, which includes the blowing up of the ship. Addressing L's ethnicity, yes I know he is British, but I assume his race is Asian since he sports the black hair and black eyes. Thank you so much for your reviews! I enjoyed every one of them!

**Speckles719: **I hope you have an awesome time at band camp! Sucks to get up that early, but I'm sure it's worth it. Aw, Shasta sounds like a sweetie! Pulling a dead squirrel out of his mouth sounds horrible. I could just image the smell of that! *Shivers* I have a dog myself named Sadie. She's a black lab mix and I swear, every time she see's someone outside, she has to voice her opinion about it. She barks like a mad woman! But I love the girl. It's alright if you don't always have a recipe for me. I appreciate the ones you've given me so far. =) I finally made those cookies! They were fantastic! Love the jam in the middle! xD

**BipOlAr-CHeeSeCAke-pAnx-emO:** Oh goodie! More riddles! Let's see...Would the fifth man be driving a car? Or maybe he just had an umbrella and decided he didn't want to go to church that day...gosh, those aren't very good answers...

**thelastshanghai: **Witches and Wizards? Forgive me, but I don't know what that is.


	55. Mission 3: Lead the Way

Welcome one and all!

Let's celebrate this glorious day with the magical art of interpretive dance!

I'm going to pretend I'm a caterpillar getting ready to become a butterfly!

Looks like I'm going to have to eat a lot first...

To the refrigerator! Nom nom nom!

Enjoy the chapter!

_(Disclaimer: I bon't owm Beath nobe *chews*)_

* * *

**Mission 3: Lead the Way**

Doug paced back and forth, his hand rubbing over chin as if he were trying to wipe away his stutter. For the past ten minutes he'd been muttering to himself, his thoughts jumbled into a puzzle of a brain. His skin looked extremely pale; Alice wasn't sure if he was just scared or if he just had a natural ghost ability to turn his skin transparent. She'd seen ghosts who looked transparent before, but it wasn't common. In fact, the only time she'd ever seen spirits go transparent was when they were passing over. But Alice knew Doug couldn't be doing that. She knew the only way to clear his conscious was to get the bad guys.

"Doug, why don't you just sit down and take a breather," Alice offered, pointing to the bed. It was only her and Doug in the room. Earlier that evening, L had removed Zeek. Alice had protested at first, but L had insisted Zeek would be a distraction. So, Alice made sure Zeek was sent somewhere nice, a room that wouldn't be locked and would give him the freedom to do as he pleased. It was the least she could do for the guy after all the trouble he'd been put through.

To make Alice feel better, L did make the promise. But with the uncertainty he still had for Mr. Alchi, he couldn't possibly let him have complete freedom. Therefore, Mr. Alchi was placed in a room with locked doors and sealed windows. It was a small lie, but it was the only way for L to proceed to the next step without him having to hear Alice's complaints.

"Is something the matter?" L kept the microphone close to his lips.

Alice looked toward the one-way window as if she were expecting to see L waving on the other side. But it was only his voice that reverberated off the walls and into her ears. At least it wasn't distorted anymore. She never did like it when he made his voice sound like Darth Vader from _Star Wars_.

"Doug is going mad." Alice shrugged when she talked, making it sound as if it were normal for ghosts to have a mental breakdown. L wondered if it was even normal for ghosts to have rational feelings. The emotions behind death are only witnessed through the eyes of those who have lost their loved ones, but what about the ones who have passed away themselves? What types of emotions could the dead feel? There was so much L had to discover, and yet he was stuck with solving this case. He would have much rather been on his way home and working with Alice more closely. But judging by the way Alice reacted over the blood diamonds case, he had a good feeling she wouldn't appreciate this one ending so quickly.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Doug's pace got faster. It was only a matter of time until he burned a line in the carpet. "Do ghosts have sixth sense? My stomach feels like it's going to empty itself."

"Please don't vomit. I've seen other ghosts do that, and it's not pretty." Alice cringed.

"Ghosts can get sick?" L sounded intrigued. Alice ignored him for the moment. Doug's freak-out was more _important_.

"Listen, Doug, this is normal for ghosts."

"It is?"

"Yep, what you are feeling are the side effects of a violent death. You were murdered in an awful way, and usually murdered victims such as yourself can sometimes feel their pains repeat." Alice straight up lied: she honestly had no idea what was wrong with Doug, or why he was feeling sick. But if his sickness ended up making him nervous enough not to want to show her the location of the suppliers, then all her hard work would have been for nothing. She couldn't let a "bad feeling" hold her back.

"Well, that sucks," Doug whined.

"'Tis the hard life of a ghost, I suppose."

Doug finally stopped his pacing and sat down on the bed Alice had offered him a while ago. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. The deep sigh must have calmed his stomach down, because his next move he made was pointing toward the one-way window. "That L guy in there, he's going to catch them, right?"

By "them," Alice assumed Doug was referring to the suppliers, and for a moment, Alice thought it was cute Doug would ask such a question. It was like asking if the sky was blue or if clowns were creepy. The answer would always be the same: "Yes."

* * *

There were two things in life that Matt could not stand. One, having to do more work than is necessary and two, working without having time for a smoke break. He was craving cigarettes like a child would a chocolate cake. Unfortunately, he had run out before they even finished with the body farm, so Matt was left with a nervous twitch he got on his right hand. He probably could have controlled it, but at the moment, he was dealing with the first unpleasant thing on his could-not-stand list.

"Would you stop making that face?" Mello hissed at Matt.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Matt faked his surprise. Miraculously, Matt got away with the remark. He wanted to believe it was because he was a good actor, but the truth was Mello was just ignoring him.

"Take this." Mello handed Matt an earpiece.

Matt was reluctant to take it. "Why are we doing this again?"

"It's our job."

"More like community service. This place was never on the list." Matt pointed to his PSP.

Mello continued to ignore his sarcasm. Instead of carrying on with his argument with the lazy detective, the blond focused on the two men who were walking into a dirty brick building that was supposed to have been destroyed years ago. He had to shift his weight a little on the fire escape so he could get a better a look at the two thugs' faces. The shift took some extra effort on his part, since Matt wasn't willing to move at all, but he wasn't going to let Matt's stubbornness get in the way of his job. Matt's persistent sarcasm was nothing new for Mello, so he let Matt complain as long as he wanted. Eventually, Matt would do his job, and that's all that ultimately mattered.

As Mello leaned to the side with his back to the wall, he etched the few tattoos he could see into his memory. The two most obvious were the snakes crawling up the thug's necks. It wasn't a tattoo Mello would ever choose. If he had a choice, he would have much rather gone with something more dark and twisted, but Mello could never get a tattoo. His job held him back from making any dramatic changes to his appearance. This meant he wasn't allowed to have anything that could make him stand out from a crowd. It was annoying enough he was criticized for his hair and leather jacket.

"Those tattoos belong to the Hispanic gang that Alanzo is associated with."

"Yeah, and those guns they're holding are quite large."

Of course, his sarcasm was only getting worse. "Put your earpiece on. You're going down this latter and through the third-story window."

Matt intentionally sighed, emphasizing his unhappiness with the plan. If Matt had his way, he would be calling L and asking for backup. Hell, he'd even call Near for the sake of not having to do the job on his own. That's what the police was for anyway, right? So what if they missed the money under the mattress? Everyone makes mistakes once in a while. But unfortunately, Mello went ahead and thought up a plan before Matt could tell him his ideas.

The plan required Matt to do some climbing and eventually the use of physical combat. If Matt was quiet enough, he could possibly avoid any fights, but knowing his luck, he was going to have to bash in a few heads regardless. He was determined, however, not to use his gun. God forbid he would have to fill out some paperwork when he got home. "It's on," he sighed.

Mello pointed to the latter next. "Go now, before sunrise is over."

Matt grumbled a few colorful words and inched his way over to the latter.

Seeing Matt make some progress, Mello turned around and crawled into the window with the broken glass shards. As much as he would have liked to have broken the window himself, it was already pre-destroyed when they got to the fire escape. At least that saved him the trouble of covering up the noise of breaking glass.

"There are so many spider webs!" Mello heard Matt over his own earpiece.

Mello rolled his eyes and wiped off the dust he tracked in from the outside. "Now who's acting like the five-year-old girl?"

Matt's response was pure silence. Finally, to Mello's relief, a remark that got Matt to shut up.

* * *

"You are not allowed to get out of this car, do you understand?" L turned his tone to something more direct. It was the only way for him to get through to Alice. She tended to only hear what she wanted to hear, so L had to repeat his last order at least three times until he finally got an answer from her.

"Fine, I won't get out of the car!" She waved her arms about.

"I'm serious, Ace. This part of the city is dangerous. In fact, the only reason I'm allowing you to come with me is because you are the only one who can see Douglas."

"I'm not weak, L." She crossed her arms with a pout.

L fully believed Alice wasn't weak, but was she good with a gun? Of course not. Was she trained in any type of martial arts? No. Did she even have the common sense to back down from a fight she couldn't possibly win? L had his doubts about that, too. But he kept all these thoughts to himself. Instead, he gave her an answer that would naturalize the tension and keep her happy. "I know you're not weak, Ace; I'm merely concerned for your safety."

"That's sweet, L. But just because I grew up with a snotty rich family doesn't mean I don't have the balls to punch someone in the face." Alice held up her first as if to demonstrate her abilities as a fighter.

L immediately saw a problem with the picture. "Ace, your thumb should not be covered. If you punched someone with your fist in that position, you could break your thumb."

"Really?" Alice corrected her thumb and twisted her fist around to get a feel for the new position.

L's concern for the girl nearly doubled. He thought about asking Watari to turn around, but then he would have to sacrifice his lead to the suppliers. L had never had to deal with a decision between a relationship and his job. If this was how the rest of his career was going to end up like, maybe he would have to rethink his affection toward the girl. Could he even stop his feelings? If she ended the relationship, then maybe that would be the better solution. But the thought of her rejecting him made him just as upset. If only there was a silver-lining.

"Ace," Watari called from the front seat. "I need the next directions."

"Oh, right!" Alice perked up. She then looked beside her and watched Doug, who was sticking his head out the window. Normally someone sticking their head out a window wouldn't be odd, but the fact that the window was still rolled up made it a little more creepy than usual. At least he was doing his job. "Hey, Doug, are we on the right track?"

Doug's answer was in the form of a thumbs-up. He must have liked sticking his head out the window. Alice could easily picture him as a big fluffy dog, the one that hops around and drools everywhere because they get so excited. "Doug says we're going the right way, so just keep driving."

"I'm curious, Ace–"

L looked down at his feet. He was wearing sneakers without socks, which was his usual way of getting around outside. "Why couldn't Douglas simply give us the address?"

"I already told you: he doesn't know the exact location, but if he saw the place, he would know." L didn't seem too happy with that answer, but what else could Alice do? It wasn't like she could look inside of Doug's brain and get the answer. She wasn't _that _kind of psychic.

"Ah, oh," Doug said as he leaned back into the car. Alice had a feeling she knew what was coming next. "I'm getting that bad feeling again."

"Doug, I already told you–"

"I know you did, but I just can't help it! Do you think Zeek is all right? Maybe I should check on him."

"Doug, you have to stay here and guide us to the suppliers." Alice was firm. She didn't know what Doug was thinking, and she certainly didn't know why he suddenly needed to check on Zeek; the easy-going man was safe back at the hotel.

"What's wrong, Ace?" L asked with his thumb to his bottom lip. That was his way of dealing with worry.

Alice waved off the situation as if it were nothing."Everything is fine." She smiled.

"This is drivin' me nuts." Doug sounded irritated.

When Alice turned around to see if Doug was okay, she panicked when she saw his body halfway out the door.

"_Doug, no_!" she squealed as she lunged toward the door. From Watari's and L's perspective, it merely looked like Alice was just throwing herself at the passenger door and screaming. It was an odd sight indeed, but they were aware that Doug was supposedly sitting where Alice was pouncing toward.

"I have to go see Zeek!" Doug stuck his head back inside and cried. Awkwardly, Alice's arms were buried among Doug's legs, but she ignored the gross position and swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Zeek is fine Doug– I promise you. Now, please tell us if we are still on the right track." She stared into his eyes. There was a flicker of emotion that Alice couldn't identify, but she could have sworn it was guilt.

"Take the next right." He gave in.

Alice was relieved. She pushed herself back up and leaned into her black leather seat. "Watari, take the next right."

"Very well, Ace."

* * *

Mello wedged his way through a cracked open door, his boots barely making any sound. He was trained well in the art of stealth, and his movements could even put the grace of a swan to shame. As he peered inside the dim room, he took light steps as to not disturb the dust around him. The last thing he wanted was a dust storm clouding his vision. Hearing some whispers from hallway he just came from, Mello ducked behind a broken desk covered in the very cobwebs Matt had been complaining about earlier. Mello ignored the insignificant webs and focused on the footsteps that followed the whispers. As the footsteps got louder, so did the voices.

_"The second the guy asks me about his brother, you would not believe the look on Eduardo's face– white as a sábana!"_

Mello shifted his weight on his right leg and reach for his gun. He stopped breathing to give him the silence he needed to hear them walk by the room.

_"I would have loved to see that!" _

Mello's grip on his gun loosened when the two Spanish speakers were fading away. The sound of their footsteps became light taps in the distance. When he was sure they were gone, Mello picked himself off the floor and relaxed his shoulders. It was his favorite part of his job, even though the risk was high, but he couldn't help loving the thrill he got from facing an enemy directly himself. Nobody else was going to do the job right, so he might as well do the job himself.

With a little help from Matt, there was no need for L, Near, or Alice. Not even the local police could be useful. They'd already demonstrated that by missing the most obvious clue in the RV. Mello could easily finish the case himself. He'd already broken into second base undetected, and by the sounds of it, Matt must have as well, since there wasn't any commotion about a break-in. It was all just too easy.

Getting back to his initial plan, Mello immediately started going through the broken desk. A few of the drawers were missing and a chunk of the wood looked as if it got bitten off, but he was still able to salvage some paperwork that contained a list of addresses. Either they were clients, or locations of their work place. Either way, he was finding good evidence.

_"Mello,"_ Matt's fuzzy voice whispered into Mello's ear. Mello quickly had to rub his ear to get the odd tingling sensation to stop. _"I've spotted three of the men that are on our wanted list. It's actually quite humorous. They're playing poker." _

"Location?" Mello kept his question brief and simple. He didn't want to make any more noise that could get him in trouble.

_"The first level: large open room with some nasty looking wallpaper. The décor in here is just…just awful. They have an orange couch with a green shag carpet. How is it that these men make thousands of dollars every day, and yet they buy shit like that? Leaves me baffled."_

"Matt, enough about the décor– it doesn't matter. Did you plant the cameras yet?"

_"Of course I do you take me for?" _

"Certainly not lazy." Mello finally gave into some sarcasm. It rather felt good to say. Especially after hearing Matt use sarcasm throughout the entire night.

_"Damn straight."_ Matt sounded proud.

Mello rolled his eyes. "Just hurry up with the next step."

_"On it."_Matt signed out.

Mello stepped away from the crumbled-looking desk and glanced out the only window in the room. Surprisingly, the window still had its glass intact, but that also meant there was more room for mold stains and other disgusting substances. Mello had to find a clear spot just to see through it. When he did find an opening, he watched the second half of the building near the first floor. His focus was drawn to one of the vents that lead to the outside. Mello counted to ten slowly, keeping track of the time constraint he had given Matt and himself. By the time he reach the last number, a pair of boots emerged from the vent. Matt crawled out from the vent and gracefully landed on the concrete outside, just as Mello had thought he would. Knowing his friend had made it out, Mello slipped away from the window and preceded with his next contribution to the break-in.

He stomped over to the door, hoping to make as much noise as possible. By that point, he didn't care about being quiet because he wanted as many of the men to come to the second half of the building as possible. Preferably away from Matt, but that wasn't going to be guaranteed. As he stepped out the room, he pulled out his weapon and made sure it was loaded with ammo. He must have already checked a dozen times; Mello liked to be prepared. When he was satisfied with his weapon of choice, He moved quickly toward a door with a marking that indicated they were stairs. He needed to reach the basement as fast as he could. If his plan worked, then he'd have this place under his control in no time.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right way, Miss Ace?" Watari checked his review mirror.

Alice's frown deepened. She glanced briefly over to Doug, who once again had his head sticking out the window. She wasn't sure if he heard Watari since he made no attempt to answer the question.

"I think so…"

"I don't want guessing, Ace. Confirm with Douglas, please," L gave an order.

Alice started to click her tongue. Doug wasn't exactly being cooperative, so what was she suppose to do? And L could have asked her more nicely.

Alice whipped her head around and hissed at Doug, making sure to take all her anger out on someone who she wasn't involved in a romantic relationship with. She did promise she would try to make things work with L, and fighting with him after just accepting to be together wasn't going to help."_Doug_!"

"What?" He slumped back inside the vehicle. He was starting to look worse. Alice noticed his eyes looked bloodshot, just like the day she first met him.

"What is going on with you?" She dropped her anger.

Doug started to shake his head back and forth. "It's 't worry about me. Just take the next left."

"The next left," Alice repeated with some uncertainty.

"Are you sure, Miss Ace?" Watari asked. Alice didn't look away from Doug. She couldn't look away. She could have sworn she saw sweat on his forehead. There was definitely something wrong.

"Ace?" L called out to her. "If Watari turns left, we will end up going in a circle."

"What?" She did a double take to L and the back to Doug. "You're leading us in circles?"

Doug opened his mouth to speak, but Alice was already smacking her forehead. "I should have known! You're horrible with directions!"

"That's not true!" Doug took offense. "I was leading you astray on purpose!"

Doug smacked his hand to his mouth looking utterly petrified, as if he just admitted to the worst crime in his life. And he should have looked terrified, because Alice gapped at him with a flushed complexion and a twitch in her eye. Her flushed complexion rapidly turned into a blotchy patch of tomato-red discolorations, and before he knew it, she was screaming up close in his face. "_YOU WHAT?_"

"Miss Ace?" Watari sounded nervous. He had to pull over since there was nowhere else he was instructed to go.

"I can't believe you would do this to me! I thought we made a deal!" Alice ignored Watari's concern. She was too busy pushing Doug closer to the passenger door. She had already ripped off her seatbelt and was crawling towards Doug as if she were a wild cat cornering an innocent deer.

"I had to! I couldn't let you get hurt because of me!"

"That's bullshit!"

"What's wrong, Ace?" L grabbed her elbow after unbuckling himself.

The touch finally got Alice's attention. "Doug here has been leading us around to nowhere! He's been trying to keep us away from the suppliers!"

"Why would he do such a thing?" L's gripped tightened.

"My gut is telling me there's something wrong!" Doug answered L even though L could not hear him.

Alice snorted at his answer. "Doug, you're dead! You don't have a gut anymore!"

"I just want everybody to be safe!" Doug curled into a ball.

Alice was breathing a mile a minute. She didn't know who to be angrier at: Doug or herself for falling for his act. Just when she was about to give Doug more criticism, the ring of a cell phone stopped Alice in her tracks.

L pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered the call. "Near, is something the matter?"

Alice turned away from L and glared over at Doug, who looked like he was trying to make himself smaller. He was in the feeble position, mumbling to himself about how dangerous a building was. She didn't know what building he was talking about, but if she had to guess, it was probably the one with all the suppliers.

"What do you mean Zeek is not in his room?"

L caught Alice's attention once more.

"What?" she squeaked, even though she knew L wasn't going to answer her. L just continued his conversation with Near.

"How did the door become unlocked?"

"L, where's Zeek?" Alice got closer to him. L couldn't look at her. The worry she carried in her expression was too much for him to handle at the moment. He had to focus on the situation itself.

"Find him, now," L ordered sternly.

"L!" Alice started to panic.

L kept his focus away from her.

Seeing as how L wasn't going to give her an answer, she turned to Doug instead. But to her surprise, he wasn't there.

"Oh God!" Alice's voice cracked. She crawled over to the door in a state of panic and forced the passenger door to open. L dropped his phone to the seat, astonished to see her jumping out the car.

"Ace! I told you to never leave this car!" His voice went up a tiny notch, but not enough to get her to stop. She was already outside and stumbling toward a lamppost.

"Doug! Get back here!" She tried to hold back some raw emotions. She just couldn't believe how fast the plan had backfired on her. First, Doug was leading her nowhere, and now Zeek was missing? Should she have listened to Doug when he talked about his gut feeling? Why did she ignore his warnings in the first place? Was it all for the sake of finding the suppliers? What an idiot she was!

"Ace, get back in the car," L got more serious, as he too stepped outside the vehicle. Thankfully, Watari stayed in the car; she was sure she could handle L, but Watari was a different story.

"Where's Zeek? What happened to him? What do you mean his room was unlocked?" she fired off questions. The lamppost above her had already been turned off since dawn was breaking through. The sun made everything around them look orange and pink.

"Ace, Zeek had to be locked away for his own safely. I couldn't have him wandering around the hotel."

"You lied to me!"

"Ace," L sighed, knowing what was coming next: Alice was going to throw a fit.

"Well, if Zeek was so safe, then why is he missing, huh?" She waved her arms about.

"Ace, lower your voice. We are not in very good neighborhood." L held up one hand to show her he came in peace. The buildings around him looked sketchy, and if he remembered correctly, the territory belonged to a Hispanic gang. It was definitely not the place he wanted to be with Alice outside of the car.

Instead of lowering her voice, Alice stormed over to L and poked him in the chest, looking up into his eyes to make sure she got her point across. "If anything happens to Zeek, I will take a frying pan to your head."

"Miss Ace, bickering about the situation won't solve anything." Watari finally made his appearance.

Alice was defenseless against Watari. How could she yell at an old man? Instead of continuing her rant, she stepped away from L and looked to the floor. Watari was right anyway. Yelling at L or Doug wasn't going to bring back Zeek. And as much as she hated to admit, it was her fault for getting them in this situation. L had trusted her to get the suppliers, and here they were stuck outside some creepy neighborhood with nothing to show for it. "I'm sorry," she admitted wearily. Her head sunk further down.

"It's all right, Ace. We will find Zeek, I promise you." L tried to reassure her, but he wasn't sure if she believed him. She already called him out on his last lie, so she had every right not to trust him.

"I hope you can keep this one." Alice glared at him for one second, determined to show him that she was taking her friends disappearance very seriously. Since L showed minimal emotional expressions, she would have to really on what she saw in his eyes, and luckily she saw a determination as strong as hers. That gave her some hope.

"Most certainly," L nodded. He then motioned to the car. "Now, would you kindly get back in the car so we can work on Plan B?"

"Plan B?" Alice was puzzled.

"Yes, Plan B. I always have more than one plan ready just in case. I took Doug's disappearance into account and made sure to come up with a backup plan to find the suppliers just in case he was to no longer be available to us."

Alice couldn't believe how efficient L was. She did know he was good at his job, but she never thought he could plan so far ahead without even knowing what the future would bring. What other scenarios did he imagine would happen? Did he have more Plan B's for those?

"We should go now." Watari opened up the driver's door. L nodded his head and gestured to Alice once again.

"Ladies first," He opened the door for her.

Alice was about to step in, when L's phone started to ring a second time. Alice felt her heart drop to the floor. What if the call was about finding Zeek dead somewhere? Doug did admit he had a bad feeling about Zeek. Could he have been talking about Zeek's death?

"What is it now?" L answered his phone. Alice held her breath, waiting to hear what L would say. When she saw L frown, that's when she felt her stomach fall next. It was only a matter of time until all of her internal organs were going to be scattered on the floor.

"Oh God, he's dead, isn't he?" She started to choke up. L quickly shut his phone without even a word of warning to the recipient. He stuffed his phone into his pocket gabbed Alice's shoulder to keep her steady. He noticed she was starting to go limp, and he couldn't have her breaking down in an area like this.

"That call wasn't about Zeek, Ace. It was the start of our next plan." He lied. If he were to tell her the truth about what the call was about, he had no doubt in his mind she would fall off the deep end. It was bad enough Douglas ran away and Mr. Alchi had gone missing. He couldn't afford to give her anymore bad news; especially when it involved her new friend, Eric. "Just get in the car, and I will explain everything." L pushed her a little toward the door.

Alice felt cold, and it wasn't because of the morning chill. Now she was getting a bad feeling in her stomach, and she didn't know what to do. Getting into the car meant what? Being dragged back to the hotel and locked away for her own safety? L had even claimed she was only in that car because of her connection to Doug. So now that he was out of the picture, she would be no longer needed. She didn't want to go back to the hotel; that would only mean seeing for herself that Zeek was not there, and she didn't know how she would be able to handle that.

"Ace, please," L nudged.

"L, I think–" But before she could finish her sentence, an explosion as loud as a cannon went off in the distance, shaking the entire block. The lamppost Alice had recently stood under, gave under the pressure of the vibrations, and started to come down.

"_Move!_" L picked her up and started to run. He held her by the waist and made it to the other side of the street, just seconds before the large metal lamppost struck the black shiny Bentley. Glass shattered and the hood of the car was crushed under the weight. Watari was beside L, breathing heavily from having to run the short distance. The sight of the vehicle made him almost want to cry. Bentley's were not cheap.

Alice was gripping L as if he was her only support. Her leg's felt weak and her body was shaking uncontrollably. The explosion had come out of nowhere, and judging by the way L and Watari reacted, they didn't know why it had happened either. It was obviously was not a part of L's Plan B.

"What was that?" she gasped.

"That's a very good question." L looked to the source of the sound. There was smoke coming from just a few buildings down. The explosion had been loud, but it wasn't as big as he had thought. The smoke piling up in the air was but a tiny cloud. Certainly not enough to determine if it was a large fire."Watari, it seems we are going to need another vehicle."

"Yes, sir." Watari pulled out his phone quickly to make the call.

Alice didn't know how L could be so calm after what had just happened. There had been a large explosion just a few buildings down the road, and L was worried about getting a new car? Wasn't he the least bit curious as to why there was an explosion in the first place? Taking a deep breath, Alice tried to calm her nerves with deep breathing exercises. As she was trying to flush out all the nerves, out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw a shadow move. Unhooking her grip on L's arm, she looked around in wonder.

"Alice, why don't you have a seat," L offered her. Alice ignored him. A patch of dark hair seemed to materialize from seemingly nowhere, and the rest of his body emerged with it. To her amazement, Doug had returned, and he was gapping at the cloud of smoke, not even realizing Alice was watching him.

"Doug," she whispered at first, not believing her eyes. She thought he had run away from her for good. But when she saw that he wasn't a hallucination, her whisper turned into a shout. "_Doug_!"

Doug jumped at the sound of her voice. When he saw her standing next to L, he had a slight panic attack.

"_What are you doing here?_" He sounded utterly shocked. Was he losing his mind? She's met ghosts who lost their memory before, but she thought Doug was at least more put together then those ghosts.

"Douglas has returned?" L looked down at the girl beside him. He still had his arm wrapped around her waist, and he had no intentions of releasing her. She was much safer in his arms. At least then he had the relief of knowing she was protected. He got the feeling if let her go, she would run off somewhere. She's been to know to run off on her own in the past. He couldn't take the chance.

"What are you talking about?" Alice kept her focus on the ghost. Doug looked like he was about to have a hernia.

"You aren't supposed to be here!"

"But you led us here! What do you mean we aren't supposed to be here? What is here? And why was there an explosion?"

"This is the place I was trying to keep you away from!" Doug almost started to sound desperate.

"You mean this is…?" Alice got tense.

"I thought I was leading you away from them! How did this happen?" Doug became a ball. He curled his body into the famous feeble position and started to rock back and forth.

Alice was baffled. Doug had been trying to lead them on a wild goose chase, but unknowingly he ended up bring them to the suppliers base anyway. Alice knew Doug was bad with directions, but the fact that he ended up leading them to the location without trying to just made it almost sound like a joke.

"What is he saying, Ace?" L leaned forward so he was close to her ear.

"We found the suppliers." She pointed to the small smoke cloud. She sounded almost like a robot. She was just so in awe with what was happening around her, that she just couldn't process her thoughts clearly.

"Is that so?" L looked to the smoke. He was in much better control of his emotions than Alice was, since the next thing he said was used in a joking manner. "Well, how convenient."

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**CrazyinAbottle, tootsiepop101, nadzuke eno mono, SpringBorn, PhoenixBreaker90, ****Kashagal and Natures Ruler**, **mrs-sora-sparrow**, **Bow Down To Gir**, **Saber Amane**, **Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit**, **Grey Psyche**, and **MsBlondiePunch. **(Outstanding! I can't thank you all enough for all of your reviews! Every time I read on of your reviews, I get this big smile on my face. Then for some reason I have to get up and pace my room because I can't sit down. You would not believe the weight I've lost from just reading all of your reviews!)**  
**

**uniquename200's NEW ACCOUNT: **You don't have to thank me, that's so sweet of you! And I promise to read more of your story soon. I've just been busy with helping my sister move out of her rental that I've had no time for myself. I don't even know how I was able to finish chapter. Just watch out for my next review, and I can't wait to see what happens to Bullet when she meets Beyond! xD**  
**

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Wow, I got that right? SWEET! Oh I know this riddle! It's coal, or something like that, right?**  
**

**SOME ONE YA DONT KNOW:** Don't worry my friend, I'll make sure to tell you in the heading of my last chapter when it will end. =)**  
**

**Tsume Yuki:** I believe on the 7th chapter I wrote about the actual Death Note storyline (in the heading), but suffice to say, I will not be going into it. I'm not too fond of everyone dying either, so I wanted to create a story of my own where there can be a happy ending. Sorry if you were hoping for Light to come, but I just want to thank you for reading my story!**  
**

**Speckles719: **Zucchini bread! YUMMY. I find your timing for this recipe impeccable. I have a garden in my backyard that's been growing Zucchini for the summer, and you would not believe how big some of them are! I have so many of them that Ive had to come up with hundreds of recipes just to not waste any of them. The Zucchini bread was fabulous! I ate it all...(probably should have shared it with my family). You got tan? For some reason my skin wont tan, no matter how much I'm outside under the sun. And also, I hope your pulled muscle doesn't hurt anymore. I know how you feel. I went on a bike ride recently (which probably wasn't smart due to the fact that I haven't ridin' a bike in years) and my butt hurts just as bad!**  
**

**Paulybeef: **Hi Paul! I'm so happy you decided to take up reading fan-fiction again! I'm even more thrilled to know you chose my story to read first! I just can't stop smiling after I read your review. I was literally smiling the whole day, which scared my brother quite a bit (that was a bonus). I bet you could write fabulous stories! You don't seem like a bad writer to me. Anyway, thank you for all your kind words and I hope my story can continue to make you smile. =)**  
**


	56. The Three Misfits Reunite

More fan art!

*Screams with delight*

Go to my profile and check it out!**  
**

It's a masterpiece of Alice with different profiles of her face. It was created by_ LetsJustThinkforaWhile_,

So tell her how beautiful it is!

Thank you _LetsJustThinkforaWhile_!

_(Disclaimer: I can't own Death Note...the law wont let me...*sad face*)_

* * *

**The Three Misfits** **Reunite**

The sunrise's glow made the whole block look as if it were drowning in blood. What once was the tranquil orange and pink mixture, had now turned into something ominous,almost as if the atmosphere itself could predict the future events to come. Alice wasn't sure when the last time she took a breath. She had been holding it for so long, she even started to wonder if her lungs ventilated oxygen anymore. Her eyes sure did though, since she was staring into a thick cloud of smoke rising towards the sky as if it were licks of black flames threatening to burn a whole in the atmosphere. The smoke had come out of nowhere.

Well…that wasn't true.

An explosion that shook the very foundation of the earth beneath them that caused a lamppost to fall on their car, made that smoke cloud. It was the explosion that came out of nowhere, and Alice was at a loss for words. There were so many different events happening at once, that she couldn't focus on one. That's not to say the explosion didn't keep her attention, since she almost got crushed by a lamppost, but Alice knew there were more important matters to freak out over. Her near-death-experience would just have to be put on hold.

"Are you all right?" L asked the girl in his arms. She had been quite for some time, and the fact that he hadn't felt her breathe for the past forty seconds made him nervous.

Alice's response was muffled at first, caught by her own throat closing up,but she recovered quickly and patted L's arm around her waist. She hadn't forgotten it was there, and she certainly felt better with it supporting her. Maybe there was still hope for their relationship yet. "I'll be fine. I'm worried about Doug though," She said, eying Doug who was still in the fetal position, sucking his thumb of all things. Alice had seen many odd ghosts in her life. She's seen ghosts who walk around holding their heads in their arms. She's seen ghosts with broken limbs and open sores. She's even seen ghosts without faces. But a ghost who gets so scared they start sucking their thumbs? That was a new one.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." L didn't sound worried, which surprised Alice. It wasn't as if L could see Doug. Maybe if he saw the panic in Doug eyes and the abusive thumb sucking, he would change his mind. But instead, L unwrapped his arm from around her waist, and stepped back.

"I think it would be best if you went back to the hotel."

"Forget it," Alice gave him her answer right away. She was starting to get the feeling back in her legs, so the fact that L let her go didn't hinder her equilibrium;though it did leave a little twinge of disappointment behind.

"I wasn't giving you an option."

"Yeah, and neither am I. I'm going to help you round up those suppliers."

"Absolutely not," L shook his head. She was being stubborn again, and L knew it was only a matter of time until she decided she would run off on her own and play the hero. He had to stop her now before it was too late. The fact that they were only blocks away from a disaster was bad enough.

"You can't force me to go back to the hotel. I won't go." She crossed her arms, making her argument non-negotiable. At least in her option it was. L thought differently.

"Can't I?" L pulled out his phone.

Whatever he was planning to do, Alice didn't give him the chance. L with a phone meant trouble, and she refused to let him call the police to drag her out of there. "Bad L!" She snatched his phone right from his hand.

L knew she was obstinate, but now she was taking it a little too far. And did she just use a disciplinary term for a dog to punish him? "Ace, hand me my phone."

"Not until you promise I can stay and help."

"No."

"Then you don't get your phone back."

"Ace." He stepped closer to her. She took a step back.

Doug decided then would be a good time to scare her. One moment he was in the fetal position sucking his thumb, and the next he was screaming in her ear. "You _have_ to go find Zeek again! If he's missing, that could only mean trouble!"

Alice's reflexes wanted to punch him in the face. "Doug, not now!"

Doug didn't back down. "But, Alice!"

L was becoming curious. "What is Douglas saying?"

"Will you let me help if I tell you?" Maybe bribery would work better with the detective.

His answer was straightforward once again: "No."

Alice felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Why wasn't L letting her help? She was more than capable of apprehending a criminal. She's shot one in the foot before; she was sure she could do it again. "You aren't being fair!"

"I'm being reasonable. You don't have any experience other than being a victim of a kidnapping. I refuse to put you in anymore danger."

Alice felt her grip tighten on L's phone.

Watari stood off to the side, observing the quarrel that was unfolding in front of him. Not long ago there had been an explosion, and here they all were, arguing about who stays and who goes. Of course, Watari whole-heartedly agreed with L about Alice returning to the hotel, but L was going about the situation all wrong. Watari had watched over Alice long enough to know that giving her an order would be like giving her permission to do what she pleases. It was likely Alice swore an oath, hand matted to a leathered Bible, the day she was born to always disobey orders.

"So, what are you saying? I'm only good at being a damsel in distress?"

"So far, that's what your record shows."

Watari had never seen Alice's face get so red before. She looked like she was going to create a bigger explosion then the last. He knew now was probably the best time to intervene before things got worse. "Excuse me, Miss Ace." Alice didn't look away from L, but she got quieter; Watari assumed she was listening to him. "Our priorities should be to catch the criminals and find Mr. Alchi. The more time we waste here, the more difficult the two tasks will be. So, if I may come up with a compromise, why don't we split the two tasks?"

Alice raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"Since you are more acquainted with Mr. Alchi, I think it would be wise for you to go and look for him. L here can take care of the suppliers, and as soon as you both are finished, we call all go back home. How does that sound?"

It sounded pretty good to Alice, though she would have rather took on both tasks. But Watari made a good point: the sooner they completed their work, the sooner they could go home. It's only been a few days, and Alice was already homesick. She wanted to see all the children, and tell them about her crazy adventures, if L would allow her. Sometimes she had to keep the cases she worked on confidential. But it would have been nice to see what Tinker and Henchman were building or what Rebecca had managed to get herself into. That porcelain ninja was always getting into the places she wasn't allowed to go.

Alice took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts. Thinking about Wammy's House wasn't going to do her any good, so she focused on Zeek instead. Wherever the guy went, Alice hoped it was by his own will, and not another kidnapping. If Zeek got abducted again, she was going to Steal a gun and shoot somebody in the foot. Or, better yet, the nuts. That would be more appropriate.

"Let's say I agree to this. Would I get complete freedom to use any method I like to find Zeek?" Alice said cautiously. She wasn't stupid. And she wasn't about to make a compromise without throwing in a good deal for herself.

Both L and Watari looked uncomfortable with her question. L already had his answer, but he could see Watari was doing a much better job of controlling Alice than he was, so he kept quiet.

Watari's sharp mind did not disappoint. "As long as you give us an idea of what you plan to do first."

"Fine, we'll do it your way."

L didn't mind, as long as she stayed away from the explosion. The probability of getting hurt while looking for Mr. Alchi was far less lower then Alice's idea of catching a criminal. "Excellent. Now that's been settled, your ride should be here any minute."

"Ride to where?" Alice's frown returned.

L overhead Watari sigh, which meant he must have said the wrong thing again. Throwing caution to the wind, L played it as safe as he could. Mentioning the hotel, he realized, was considered a bad word. "You can't possibly think you could find Mr. Alchi on foot, do you?"

"That's true." Alice's shoulders relaxed.

L felt the tension melt right off him. He was safe, for now.

"I don't like this." Doug started pacing back and forth. He made about four trips before stopping in front of Alice. "What if Zeek got kidnapped again? What if he was in that explosion? I can't let my buddy die!"

"Doug, calm down. Zeek couldn't possibly be in that explosion—" She then looked to L for reassurance. "—right?"

"Correct, the hotel is approximately ten miles from here. Even if he were to be able to obtain his mobile home, which is impounded at the police station, it would still take him at least ten minutes to drive here. We left the hotel at around five in the morning and were misled by Douglas for twenty minutes. Mr. Alchi would not have the necessary time to obtain his vehicle and drive himself to this location before us."

"You see?" Alice put on a fake smile.

Doug wasn't ready to believe her yet. "He could still be in trouble!"

Alice was about to fake another reassurance when the sound of an engine caught her ear. Doug made a sound between a squeak and a scream, and was gone before Alice could say anything to stop him. She sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead. Soon the sounds of the engine got closer, and in the distance, Alice could make out something shiny and black.

"Right on time," Watari was cheerful. A black Sedan pulled up to the curb, mocking Alice with her reflection on the glass that looked like paint. There were worry lines on her forehead that she never noticed before. When the car came to a stop, the window on the passenger side was rolled down, and a man sporting a neat black suit and carefully gelled back brown hair gazed out at them.

"Your next orders, sir?" He was stoic.

"Please take Ace here back to the hotel," L answered, motioning to Alice next to him. The man in the Sedan nodded his head, but Alice was shaking hers.

"I told you I'm not going back to the hotel."

"But how else are you going to examine Mr. Alchi's door he so cleverly broke out of?"

Alice snorted at L's question. "Near is still at the hotel. He can tell me. I've got a different plan for finding Zeek."

"And that would be?"

"The power of a cell phone; I'll call him."

"I don't believe that method will work the way you expect it too."

Alice wagged her finger. "Don't knock it before you try it."

L would have pushed further into the topic, but his time was running short. That explosion earlier could have meant an astounding amount of different scenarios, and he's had little time to prepare for what each of those scenarios could be. L would just have to let Alice do what she thinks is right, and move on. At least her plan didn't involve anything dangerous. As long as she was inside that car driving away from the chaos, L would feel better. "Do whatever it is you feel is right."

Alice gave him a victorious smile. At least she got him to agree with her about one thing.

Watari quickly moved in next to start the ball rolling. He motioned for Alice to get into the car. The agreement was made, and Watari didn't want to waste a second more. As he opened the back door for her, he noticed how quiet she had become. Hoping it wasn't the silence before the storm, Watari gave her a genuine smile and said, "After you, Miss Ace."

She stood in front of the open door, momentarily eying L and wondering if he will be okay. Just because he was the greatest detective in the world didn't mean what he was about to do wasn't dangerous. She just started a relationship with the guy, so she didn't want to end up seeing him dead. Alice held out her hand, letting his phone rest on top of her palm. She was offering it back, looking to the side with an increment amount of shame reddening her cheeks. "Sorry…for taking your phone," she mumbled into her shoulder.

L took his phone back, but not without pausing to feel the warmth of her skin. "All is forgiven." He stuffed his phone back in his pocket. It was a simple apology from Alice, but one he would always find endearing. It was hard enough to get her to admit she was doing something wrong; and therefore, any apology coming from her was like a rare gem.

Alice was grateful to L, but Watari didn't give them anymore time to say their goodbyes. "Miss Ace, now would be a good time to get in the car."

"I know, I'm going," she huffed, noticing on the shiny paint that her worry lines on her forehead were getting worse. The cause could have been from stress, but she knew the real reason was from L. His life was going to be put in danger, and now more than anything, she felt as if she needed to protect him. If there was an explosion before, what's to say another one won't happen? "L—"

"Yes, Ace?" L watched Watari shut her door. Her window was rolled down, so she could talk to them.

"You have to promise me you won't get yourself killed."

"The chance of my life ending tonight is about a three thousandth of a percent."

"L!" She gripped the car window with both her hands.

"I can promise you I will do all within my power to keep myself alive." He worked around his answer. He never did like making promises he couldn't possibly keep. Unless they were promises that benefited him. If it was a promise under a lie, then he had no trouble making them. But Alice was a different story. There was a time to lie, and time to be honest. Now was one of those times to be honest.

Alice made a distorted face. There was a lot more she wanted to say, but the car's engine filtered out the silence. She started to nibble on the inside of her cheek.

"L, you be careful!" she shouted as her window was starting to roll up. She had no control over it, so she made sure to keep yelling to let L know how she felt. "Do not get yourself blown up! Do you hear me?" She had to look back as the car started to move. The only response she got from either of them was a couple waves of goodbye. Not even a "take care" or "good luck".

Alice smacked her hand on the window as it finished closing, and screamed one last order to L before he was out of site:_"We are going home together, got that?"_

* * *

The car ride was eerily quiet, with the occasional sound of the tires drumming against the pavement. Alice was flipping her phone around in her hand, watching the light fade in and out behind her skin. She had been chewing on her cheek for what seemed like hours, but in fact, she had only been in that car for a few minutes. The driver hadn't said one word to her. The only time she heard him speak was when he answered his phone a second ago and agreed to whatever order he was given. Alice knew it must have been L or Watari that called, and judging by the fact that the driver hasn't asked her where she wanted to go, he must have been instructed to take her back to the hotel.

She had a feeling something like that would happen. L had lied to her before about Zeek, so she wasn't all that surprised to know she was being forced back to the hotel. Luckily, she planned ahead for such an occasion. The suit in front wasn't all that intimidating; so, first she would make her call, and then she would use her powers of persuasion.

Alice flipped open her phone, and started down the list of numbers. There weren't that many, so it didn't take her long to find Zeek's. She pressed the call button, and prayed he would answer on the first ring.

She urged him on. "Come on, Zeek, answer."

Alice closed her eyes and prayed harder. But alas, his voicemail was the first to be picked up. That only meant one thing; that his phone was either off or dead. Alice shut her phone with frustration and hit her head on the back of her seat with a grunt.

Her driver took a second to look at her in the rearview mirror, but quickly went back to watching the road. Alice's plan A hadn't worked, so now it was time for her Plan B. She hoped she could have avoided it, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"_Doug!_" She yelled out his name, breaking the silence in the car. She even managed to scare her driver.

Doug magically appeared sitting next to her in the car, just as she wanted him to. He was breathing as if he actually got a set of lungs. His eyes looked more bloodshot than usual, but at least he wasn't sucking his thumb anymore.

"Holy shit!" Doug gasped out the few breaths he could manage. He held his hands over his chest as if here were trying to keep his heart in one place.

"I need you to do me a favor." Alice got straight to the point, not even caring if she was making her driver uncomfortable.

"Favor?" Doug seemed to recover fast.

The suit in the front kept looking in his mirror, giving Alice a curious look. To get him off her back, she leaned forward and said with a smirk, "This is a private conversation, so please just ignore me for the next few minutes."

The driver looked absolutely baffled by Alice's request, but surprisingly he nodded his head and kept his focus back on the road. Alice was delighted to see he was cooperating.

"What's this favor? Does it involve finding Zeek? Because I'm already trying to do that," Doug stammered.

"I was wondering if it was you who unlocked his door." Alice leaned back in her chair. Doug looked offended by her statement.

"Of course I didn't! He was safe in that hotel!"

Alice rubbed her sore cheek. She had been chewing on it for so long that she could feel how raw it had become. "Then it must have been him," she said mostly to herself.

"Him? Who's him?" Doug scooted closer to her.

"Nobody, just forget about it. What I need you to do for me is watch over L. Follow him and tell me what he's up to."

"Huh?" Doug looked confused.

"I'm going to find Zeek, but it would help if I knew what L was up to."

"I don't see the connection between this L guy and Zeek."

"Just trust me, Doug. I know what I'm doing." Alice waved her hand. She wasn't lying to him. She knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted to make sure L was safe, and she wanted to find Zeek at the same time. Using Doug was killing two birds with one stone. In other words, she'd have her cake and eat it, too.

"Well, how are you going to find Zeek?"

"I've got another friend I can talk to that will help me."

"I don't feel right leaving my buddy in your hands."

"Well, you should have thought about that before you approached me in that forest back in England," Alice sighed.

Doug puffed out his cheeks. "Fine, I'll watch this L I find out my buddy is dead, I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Duly noted." She then watched as Doug was swallowed by his seat. He faded out of the car in a thick fog, mimicking the movements of dust particles in the sunlight. When he was gone, Alice gave herself a second to relax and to think about her next plan. If her theory was right, then she was going to have to call upon a spirit she never thought she would have to force out. Licking her lips, she swallowed back some lumps in her throat. She took in a deep breath and yelled, "_Jim!_"

Once again, her driver jumped, causing the car to sway a little off the road. But Alice wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Instead, she was watching a man materialize in the seat next to her. The smell of fresh cotton and earth filled the vehicle. Even the driver started to sniff the air in wonder.

"Well, what do we got going hera?"

Jim's deep Southern accent made Alice soften her own voice. "Jim, was it you who let Zeek out?"

Jim's smile never seemed to leave his lips. "Yes, ma'am, I sure done that."

"Why did you do it?" She bit her lip. Her cheeks were too sore by that point, so she had to move on to her lips.

"That feller had to help his friend, so I unlocked his door for him. He doesn't know I'd done that though, so don't worry about if I scared him or not."

"That wasn't what I was worried about… And what do you mean help his friend? Are you talking about Doug?"

Jim started to rub his chin as he looked around the car. Alice wondered if Jim had ever even been in a car before, but she let those thoughts slide—Zeek was her first priority.

"I don't know who this Doug feller is, but I was talkin' bout Eric."

Alice felt her heart drop to the floor. "What's wrong with Eric?"

"Eric is fine child. He's out of that hospital."

"So you let Zeek out to go pick up Eric?" Alice was confused.

"Why don't you give him call on your magic talking box and find out for yurself."

"You mean call Zeek? I already tried that." Alice was getting more frustrated. She never though Jim would get so involved with her life before, but he had helped her earlier with one of the biggest decisions she's ever had to make, and he also helped her escape from that kidnapping, so it shouldn't have surprised her to know he was getting involved with Zeek and Eric's freedom.

"No, not that feller; I was talkin' bout Eric."

Alice was a bit taken aback by Jim's carefree speech. He seemed so oblivious to how odd the conversation had turned. Alice was about to make another quizzical comment when all of a sudden her phone started to ring. Both she and her poor driver were momentarily traumatized by the sudden jingle of her cell phone going off. She stumbled with the phone in her hand, trying to look at the Caller ID as her hands shook violently. Her mouth went dry when she noticed the familiar number pop up on her screen.

"How did you do that?" She gave Jim a panicked look.

"Do what?" He sounded genially surprised, though Alice didn't believe he was.

"How did you get Eric to call me?" She showed him her phone which was still ringing.

He smiled brightly. "Well, I'll be a sheep's herder."

Alice clicked her tongue once, keeping her eye on Jim as she flipped her phone open.

"Hello?"

"Ace? Is that you?" Eric answered on the other line.

Alice's voice seemed to uncontrollably increase in pitch and octave. She couldn't help it. In the back of her mind she had never stopped thinking about Eric's well being. "Eric? Are you okay?"

Eric laughed at her question, as if she just asked him if he danced the hula. "Of course I'm fine, darlin'. A tiny little bullet isn't goin' to stop me. I've gotten shot in the behind by pelletsbefore. That hurt a hundred times more than that little bullet."

"Oh, thank God." Alice's hand made a sweep over her forehead.

"You would not believe the day I have been having." Eric moved on: "After I was done healing, they wouldn't let me leave the hospital. They wouldn't tell me why so I got pretty mad. Turns out my window to my room got unlocked somehow, so I used that to escape."

Alice eyed Jim,who seemed oblivious to what was going on around him, again. He still had on that same smile, as if he was enjoying a cup of tea on a quiet summer's day.

"How convenient for your window to be open," she said out loud for Jim to hear. He did nothing to respond.

"That ain't the weirdest part. Once I was free, Zeek was waitin' for me in the parkin' lot. It was as if he knew to be there."

"Really?" Alice's voice went higher, but not for the reasons of being extra happy. She was giving Jim a look that clearly showed she was not amused with how the situation turned out. As much as she hated to agree with L about locking Zeek up, at least they were guaranteed there would be no trouble from either him or Eric. She could have been helping L right now with catching those suppliers, but instead, she was tracking down two escape artists. She was just a mix of emotions. She didn't know what to feel.

"Yeah, do you want to talk to him? He's sittin' right next to me."

"Yes, put Zeek on the phone." Alice waited for the phone to be exchanged. In the meantime, she covered the receiver and hissed over at Jim. "Jim! I'm not done with you, so you better have a good explanation for all of this!"

"Little elf?"

Alice uncovered her hand from her phone quickly. "Zeek! Why didn't you answer your phone when I called you?"

"Oh, sorry about that. My phone has lost all its juice. It needs a recharge."

Alice slapped her forehead. "Zeek, why did you go pick up Eric?"

"Cause the doctor man told me to." Zeek sounded confused. Alice was right there with him.

"What doctor? Who told you to go get him?"

"Well, I was in my room chillin' with some fairies and having a bellsa fruit party with my clan, when all of a sudden the phone in my hotel room starts ringing. It was a doctor dude callin' about Casanova. He told me to come pick him up since he was all better."

Alice was in utter disbelief. _Who could of…?_Then realization hit.

_You've got to be kidding me._

"Jim!" Alice pulled her cell away from her lips. "Did you pose as a doctor and call Zeek?"

"Well, them doctors sure weren't going to call, so I did it for them."

_"I can't believe you did that!" _ Her voice was turning into squeaks. Alice wasn't surprised by Jim's ability to use the phone. He was already a ghost that hadwalked the earth for centuries. There was probably much more he could do other then unlock doors and make phone calls, but Alice didn't want to think about it. Her thoughts were already overtaken by how she was going to clean all this mess up.

Jim nodded his head, giving his two cents of wisdom. "Don't fret, child. I only do what I do when I know it's the right thing to do. You'll see soon nuff."

Alice didn't care about any of that. All she wanted was for Eric and Zeek to be safe. "Zeek, where are you?"

"In my home, drivin' to get some munchies. We're running low again."

"Perfect, meet me outside that outlet grocery store you like so much in the next five minutes. Do you think you can do that?"

"No problem, little elf." He sounded cheerful, as if he had no care in the world. Alice would have found that annoying had she not loved the guy for that very reason.

"Okay, see you in five minutes then."

"Here here!" Zeek saluted his goodbye. And then her cell went quiet. Alice shut her phone and leaned back into her seat, closing her eyes and waiting for the headache to go away. She felt her seat shift a little from Jim's movements.

"It's for your own good, child. I'm just watching out for you," she heard him say. Alice peeked one eye open, but when she looked at the seat Jim was suppose to be in, he was gone, as if he had never been there. Alice's frown deepened. What was Jim talking about? How was freeing Zeek and Eric keeping her safe? And why did her safety matter?

"Hey, suit," She leaned forward to talk to the driver. The driver looked like he was sweating, his eyes darting back and forth across the road. She wasn't sure how much she scared him, but he certainly didn't look comfortable in that car. When he didn't give her a response, she unbuckled her seat belt and moved in even closer. She got up right in his ear. "Hey, driver."

"Yes, miss?" He sounded shaken.

"I need you to drive me somewhere."

"I was told to take you back to the hotel."

"And now I'm telling you different. Either you take me where I want to go, or I jump out of this car and walk there myself. Between you and me, I don't think L will appreciate knowing if I got hurt under your watch."

The driver looked conflicted, fighting a war inside of his head. Should he follow his boss's orders, or succumb to the girls wishes? Nobody had warned him that the girl was going to be off her rocker, and he certainly believed with all his heart that she would indeed jump out the car as it was moving. He couldn't let her hurt herself over a silly detour, so he made his decision. Maybe she wanted to stop by a mall and pick up some ice cream or something. No harm done, right?

"All right, miss, where to?"

A sliver of a smile reached the corners of Alice's lips.

* * *

"Yes L, I've got her on record. Do you wish for me to send the backup now or do you want to wait?" Near pandered through some papers on his desk. His computer was sitting off to the side, displaying a screen with a map marked by a red blinking dot. He was, of course, in charge of keeping track of Alice, and it was no surprise to see her driving away from the hotel. But Alice was going to be fine. What mattered most was apprehending the suppliers.

"Hold off on the phone call for about ten minutes. I want to explore the site myself and get a better reading of the situation. I have this theory that somehow Matt and Mello are involved in this. In fact, I'm about ninety-eight percent sure that's the case."

"I agree," Near nodded his head, even though L could not see him. He understood why L didn't want to involve the police anyway. After finding out there was money still left under the mattress, he had little faith in them as well. But it wasn't enough to cloud his judgment and make him believe he couldn't stop the suppliers on his own, much like what Mello and Matt must have been thinking. Well…most likely Mello.

"I'll send you the updates as soon as we reach our location. If you can, send me any aerial pictures you can find of the surrounding area. I want to know every escape route there is."

"I'm on it." Near went straight to work. At least, he tried to give all his focus on his work. There was still something in the far corners on his conscious that was making him nervous. Somehow, his nervousness increased when he discovered Alice and L were splitting up and working on separate cases. Alice was unpredictable, and there wasn't anything more Near hated most then having an undistinguishable outcome. He liked knowing what the future would hold, but with Alice, it was a tossup. Maybe that's why he didn't feel comfortable with her and L getting together in the first place. Having her close to L could make him unpredictable, too. Near did not like losing his ability to see through L. It was his one leg up in the competition to be the greatest detective in the world. But, aside from fear of losing his insight into L's world, there was still something more to his nerves that he could not place. He knew it had to do with Alice, but he wasn't quite sure what that was.

* * *

When the Sedan pulled up to the grocery store, Alice immediately looked for Zeek's RV. How he was able to get it out of the police's station was beyond her, but she didn't care if he stole it or not. What mattered was that she was about to reunite with her little gang of misfits. Eric was back and he had sounded healthy on the phone. He was even healthy enough to call her "darlin'" again, so that was a good sign.

She jumped out her door and didn't wait for her driver to follow. She ran down the side of building until she came to the front of the store. Her driver called out to her, but she was already rounding the corner. She got the feeling she was making her driver curse like a sailor, since she wasn't doing what she was told. Much like what would happen between her and Mello. The thought brought a smile to her face.

"Ace!" A familiar southern drawl caught her attention. Her head snapped to the side and she found herself looking at Eric as his hand waved back and forth in front of a parked RV. Zeek was leaning outside the driver window waving his arm as well. Alice lit up.

"Casanova!" She ran toward him, hearing more disgruntle shouts from behind her. Seems her driver had tried to catch up with her, but she was too fast for him again. She didn't let that bother her as she found herself closing in on Eric. When she got close enough to see his expression, a part of her got worried. He didn't look happy to see her. In fact, he looked downright pissed off. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking past her, which then made her realize how serious the situation had become. Eric must have thought she was in trouble.

"Wait Eric, it's not what you think—" she managed to say as she slowed down in front of him, but it was too late. Eric was running past her and tightening his fist. It probably didn't help that the suit was cursing at Alice as he ran towards her. Maybe if he hadn't been saying mean things, Eric wouldn't have done what he did.

But that's what you get for pissing off a Texan: a hard punch to the lower jaw and a face full of dirt and gravel.

"Oh shit." Alice covered her mouth as she watched her driver collapse to the ground. Eric shook his fist as if to get rid of a little sting.

"Nice hit!" Zeek cheered from his spot inside of the RV.

"Are you okay, Ace?" Eric turned around to face her. Alice gapped down at the unconscious man. Eric must have hit him pretty good to make him unconscious. "Is this guy another kidnapper? Should we call the police?"

"Uh…" Alice didn't know what to say. "How about we take this guy back to his car and go?" She came up with a solution. She wasn't exactly sure it was the right one, but it sounded good at the time.

"His car? Where's that?"

Alice pointed to where she had come from. "Just over there, and let's hurry, before he wakes up."

"I'll help you out." Zeek got out of his car. And help he did. With the three of them working together, they were able to drag the suit back to his car and store him safely inside where nobody would question his unconsciousness. Luckily the whole scene was secluded to just an audience of Zeek and herself, but that didn't stop Alice from wondering if there were surveillance cameras outside. Maybe L or Near could have been watching her and sending troops to hall her in. With that flash of fear running through her thoughts, Alice came up with another plan on the spot.

"Okay guys, I say we drive away from here as fast as we can. No looking back, you got that?"

Zeek was pumped. "Sounds like another adventure!"

"It felt good punching that guy," Eric admitted.

"And I thank you for saving me, Casanova. You were quite brave."

His cheeks went scarlet. "Ain't nothing, darlin'."

"Shall we go?" Alice was already heading toward the RV.

Eric was quick to follow. "Right behind you, darlin'!"

"This is so much better than having a bellsa fruit party with fairies," Zeek snickered.

Alice wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do next, but she knew her job of finding Zeek was done. All that was left was to go help out L.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

**torixx3, SpringBorn, cherryh5797, Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit, Kashagal and Natures Ruler, ZombiChirp, nadzuke eno mono, Saber Amane, ShaDow EmpIre, nazebaka, Crazyinabottle, Chester-Grey, Forever-Buckskin, uniquename200, T.V.S.H, and DragonMage101. **(I feel pretty, oh so pretty! Hi everyone, how's it going? Have I told any of you yet how much I adore you? Well...let's just say you guys give the BEST reviews, and other writers should be jealous that I get to hear from all of you. So thank you for gracing me with your presence!)

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Would there happen to be two Paul's? Or maybe he just lies about his age every year...

**PhoenixBreaker90: **Thank you for catching those errors in my last chapter! I made sure to fix those right away.

**PlanetMercury: **I'm not sure if you've gotten to this chapter yet, but to answer your question for chapter 13, I will not be going into the actual Death Note storyline, which mean Light or Misa will not be making any appearances. I believe it was on my 7th chapter that I wrote in the heading of why I wasn't going to be using the cannon plot. But thank you for reading my story!

**LetsJustThinkforaWhile: **I just want to thank you again for your amazing artwork. Ever since you show it to me, I've gone back to look at it at least 100 times. xD

**Animegal809: **You are so sweet! It's alright if you want to disagree with Alice's character (from the start). I value all opinions that are given to me. I take them as advice to improve my story, so if you ever find something else you think is wrong, don't ever hesitated to tell me. On that happy note, THANK YOU! Your review made my light up. I was glowing all day actually. Pissed off my brother to see me so bright, so I made sure to flaunt it in his face. *Evil smirk*

**Speckles719: **SLUTTY BROWNIES! *drool* I haven't made them yet, but they sound like heaven. I've recently got a job that been making me work eight hour shifts like crazy, so I've had no time to do any baking! I'm going though sugar withdrawals, and these brownies sound like the perfect cure. So the next time I catch a break, I'm going to create this masterpiece of a recipe and then consume them all in one sitting. =D


	57. Victory or Failure?

...

Are you ready for what I'm about to tell you?

...

This is the chapter before the finally.

That means that after this, there's only going to be one more chapter left!

AH! I'm almost done with this story!

I can't believe it!

Enjoy =)

_(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.)_

* * *

**Victory or Failure?**

"Watari, the ally will do. As long as we are off the main streets, we should be fine," L noted.

Watari agreed with his college, steering the new BMW into a tight corner behind one of many poorly-built brick buildings. Its construction must not have been properly supervised, because if another explosion happened, Watari easily imagined the building toppling over them. Putting aside the chance of being crushed under a pile of cement, he made sure their position was secluded and quiet.

"Near—" L adjusted his phone to his other ear, freeing one of his hands to type on his laptop. "—you labeled the photos you've sent me, correct?"

"Yes, L, all the information should be there."

"Thank you, Near."

L's courtesy fell on deaf ears. Even though it wasn't often for L to give praise, Near was too busy with his own jumbled thoughts to care what L was telling him. The ominous feeling he had earlier was only getting worse, and no matter how many excuses he came up with to rationalize his feelings, nothing seemed to satisfy him. If Alice was around, she would have told him it was a "gut feeling." Near didn't believe in gut feelings. There was instinct, but that was as far as he would categorize this unnatural feeling. The gut, naturally, could not feel anything.

L started to provide an explanation, causing Near to pause his own thinking. "From what I gather, the explosion was caused by a water heater. There's a light mist around the crime scene. There are two possibilities for this. One, the water heater could not hold the pressure any longer. Or two, Mello forced the explosion. My theory is a combination of the two."

"What about Matt? What role would he be playing in this?" Near asked.

"That's a very good question. There are a number of possibilities for what Matt could be up to. From what I've gathered about him, I'd say he would be as far away from the fight as possible. He was never one for combat."

"That would be a fair estimate," Near agreed.

"As for Mello, in the next few moments I want to have a visual on him. If there are any surveillance cameras positioned around the area, I want them all to be on my screen in the next five minutes. Can you do that for me, Near?"

"I'll try my best."

"And, Watari," L moved on quickly, "please call Matt."

Watari was a bit confused. He doubted Matt would even pick up. Especially if he was busy avoiding bullets and explosions.

"I would have you call Mello, but with his luck, he would still have his ringtone set, giving away his position if he were to be hiding. I would hate to lead another predecessor to an early grave."

Watari made a noise between a grunt and a cough. The atmosphere in the car had become much more uncomfortable. Having L refer to A's death didn't make their situation any better; so instead of questioning L's orders again, he pulled out his cell phone to make the call. "Yes, of course." He started to dial the number. When he pressed the phone to his ear, he was tempted to pull out his handkerchief as well. It had been a while since he's used it—and he was somewhat cheerful about the idea of using it without Alice being the probable cause. He doubted he would ever have a moment like this again.

Matt's jovial banter caused the ringing to stop. "Hey, old man."

Watari was absolutely speechless. What was he suppose to say to him?

Taking matters into his own hands, L leaned forward in his seat, stretching his body more than usual. He took the phone from Watari and made sure to get straight to the point. "Matt, you better have answers for me, or you're not going to have a home in England to return to."

"Ah, L. I should have known it was you." Matt didn't sound phased in the least. In fact, he sounded like he was having fun.

L got more serious; he hoped Matt would do the same. "Beating around the bush will not diverge my thoughts. Talk."An explosion had almost crushed Alice via lamppost, and he would be damned if he was going to let Mello and Matt get away with causing another.

"Hey, you trying going against a hot-headed, chocolate-obsessed blond? Last time I tried that, he put a dent in the door of my precious Mustang. I can't have that again. Mustangs have never done me wrong."

"I've had my fair share of retaliating against fair-haired people, so don't try and make irrelevant excuses. What I want to know is Mello's plan. Please tell me he thought of one before he rushed in there," L pleaded, hoping maybe Mello wouldn't be that irresponsible.

"Oh, there's a plan. And I have to say, it's quite clever compared to what Mello usually comes up with."

"And this plan would be?" Over the speaker, L could faintly hear clicking sounds, which meant Matt must've been using his PSP or some other device he's been known to carry around.

"How about I just send you some of the footage of what's going on? I've set up cameras all over this building, and you'll be happy to know I even installed a few microphones."

"Of course you have." L wasn't surprised. If there was one quality about Matt L could respect, it was his attention to detail.

Mello was in over his head, and Matt's help wasn't enough. At least Matt could see that, and was willing to included L in their little brigade. "The picture will be a little fuzzy at first, but give it a moment to clear up," Matt instructed.

L waited patiently for the footage. Using the small window of silence, L picked up his other phone to talk to Near. "Any luck?"

"There seems to be only one camera I can find in the area, and it's already been tampered with."

"Then there's no need to worry about it. I've contacted Matt, and he's going to send me some connections to the cameras he's positioned."

"How generous of him."

"When I have them, I'll send you the link as well." He then put the phone aside and returned to Matt. "Is everything all right?"

Matt sounded frustrated. "The reception here is just awful. I should have brought my own."

"Yes, you should have." L agreed with him. Matt made noise that clearly showed he did not appreciate L's response.

Watari looked out his window to try and get a better view of the building. The cloud of smoke had vanished, leaving behind an empty blue ocean of skyline, and the sun had reached its rotation of marking the early morning. As much as he loved to see the sunrise, it wasn't worth it to see when they were so close to danger. He would have much rather been secluded in a hotel room or back at his orphanage.

"Here we are," L announced, typing away on his laptop. Watari turned away from the sunrise to see what L had acknowledged.

Turning his laptop a few degrees, L allowed for Watari to get a good look at the four new videos that were displayed on his screen. "I'm sending you the link now, Near." L used a louder voice so Near could hear him. Since his phone was still on the seat next to him, he never got to hear Near's response, but he assumed Near heard him loud and clear.

Watari kept his focus on L's laptop. What he saw truly fascinated him. "Is that Mello?"

Over Watari's phone, Matt laughed and answered the old man, "Sure is!"

* * *

Mello adjusted his gun to his other hand and slowly descended the broken-railed staircase. He stepped over a chip of cement, so he wouldn't twist his ankle. He felt like he was in a spotlight, with the sun's luminosity breaking through the cracked ceiling. The silence in the room made him irritated.

The sound of his boots reaching the bottom step produced an echo, which continued out the door behind him. Then there were the footsteps behind him that repeated the same course. Mello's eyes darted left and right, taking in every detail of the room he just entered. He even counted the footsteps behind him so he knew exactly where the two goons were.

A man, dressed in what was supposed to be a clean-cut suit, was playing cards with two other hooligans near the back of the room. But Mello could already tell from his position on the stairs that it was fake, the guy's jacket most likely picked from a dumpster.

"Who's this?" Eduardo spoke, setting down his hand for poker as if his card game was far more important than the new guest in the room. Mello knew the man from his list of suppliers. Another one of his lackeys was going to answer him, but Mello beat him to it.

"Does the name Rio ring any bells?"

The man at the poker table abruptly stood up and eyed Mello with an icy glare. It pleased Mello to no end. He always loved to see his victims squirm before they were taken out.

Eduardo stepped away from the table, showing off his spurred cowboy boots and a large belt buckle of woman in an unsightly pose that most likely accommodated for what he lacked. "Now, why would Rio be showing up at my doorstep?"

"Business with an old partner; most of which does not concern you. However—" Mello took a step forward, causing some of the goons around him to flinch. That certainly satisfied him. "—I was recommended to this little operation if I wanted to rent some extra storage space. I've got business of my own, and I need more room to expand."

"How much we talkin'?"

"Enough for you retire at sixty."

Eduardo rubbed his hairy chin. It was an offer Mello knew Eduardo could not refuse. The fact that the guy was even stalling told Mello he was in on the deal. If he was going to refuse it, he would have done it already.

When Eduardo was done thinking, he lifted up his arms in a gesture of welcome. "You've come to the right place, my brother."

"But, Boss! This is the guy who destroyed the water heater!"

His warm welcome turned back into a glare. But, surprisingly, Eduardo's anger was toward the lackey who spoke. "Who told you to speak? Shut your mouth or else or staple it shut myself!"

It was the kind of reaction Mello had been hoping for. When he created that explosion, he was ultimately aiming to lower the amount of goons that could potentially ruin his plan. He also wanted to make a big entrance and warn those who opposed him that he was dangerous. Since Mello's status in the underground black market was legend, he knew the ones in charge wouldn't mind a little mayhem. Keeping up his appearance, he said, "I can't stay for long. I just have a few documents for you to sign and questions that need to be answered."

"Then please join us for a game of cards. We can sign papers later," Eduardo offered, gesturing to the table in front of him.

Mello certainly didn't want to play with the man, but his options were limited. If he wanted the confession papers to be signed and Eduardo's declaration of guilt to be on camera, he had to play along. So with a heavy sigh on his part, he made his way over to the fold-out table with the most uncomfortable looking chairs he has ever seen.

To clear a spot for Mello, Eduardo pushed one of his crewmates away and told him to go do something useful. Obviously his kindness was only saved for those who paid him.

"Would you like to deal?" Eduardo held out the deck of cards to Mello.

Mello momentarily let a smirk reach the corner of his lips. "I would be happy to."

* * *

"So, tell me again, what's going on?" Eric scratched his head.

Alice pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "Doug was trying to lead me away from the suppliers, but he accidently brought me to them anyway. L told me to go find Zeek, while he took care of the suppliers. Since I found you guys, we're going to go help L finish the case," Alice explained for the third time. She didn't know why Eric wasn't getting it. How hard was it to understand that a ghost led her to the final operation of a drug trade?

"And why would we help him?"

Alice shook her head, _tisking_ the entire way. "Because he obviously needs my help."

"Did he tell you he wanted you to come back and help?"

Alice pressed her lips together, giving Eric a look of irritation. "He doesn't have to tell me to come back. I know he needs my help."

Zeek chuckled from the driver's seat. "You sure got some spunk, Little Elf."

Eric crossed his arms. "I don't think we should go back."

"Says the Texan who just punched a man in the face."Alice continued to pout more.

"Well, if you have warned me he was just an innocent bystander, I wouldn't have punched the guy!"

"That punch was epic," Zeek added. Both Eric and Alice ignored the online gamer.

"What's done is done, Eric. If you want to redeem yourself, let's go help L. I'm sure he'll appreciate your help. And who knows, maybe you two will become best buddies."

Eric didn't believe a word she said, but fighting with Alice was like trying to break a wild horse. It would take a lot of time and patience, and Eric didn't have the time or patience for her. "I still don't think we should go, but it's not like your givin' me much of a choice."

"I'm giving you a choice. We could drop you off somewhere, and then Zeek and I can finish the job ourselves."

Zeek nodded his head. "I've got a need to kick some druggy butt."

"Says the man who's been arrested for smoking marijuana," Eric mumbled under his breath.

Zeek didn't hear Eric, but Alice sure did. She pinched his arm and caused him to cringe away from her. "If you're going to be Mr. Grumpy, then I'll kick you out of this car myself."

It was Eric's turn to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Ace—"

"Can't you trust me?"

Eric felt a part of his heart strings snap. Alice managed to hit his soft spot, and there was no turning back now. "Course I trust you, darlin'."

Alice quickly bounced back. "Good. Now, let's talk strategy."

"I've got a plan," Zeek announced.

Both Alice and Eric gave Zeek a look between bewilderment and amusement. They couldn't imagine what Zeek could be thinking.

"How about we get Doug to help us out? He can be our eyes and ears on the inside."

"Zeek," Alice's speech trailed off. She had to pause for a moment to absorb what the hippie just suggested. "That's actually brilliant."

"I know, right?"

Eric shook his head. "Well, I'll be darn."

Alice leaned back in her seat and rubbed her chin. Calling for Doug would have been a good plan. But the more she thought about it, the more doubt she harbored. The last time she saw Doug, he was sucking his thumb and stuck in the fetal position. He'd been trying to keep her away from the trouble. Asking him to snoop was quite the opposite of what he attempted to accomplish earlier. But there wasn't any sense in refusing to give it a try. The worst thing that could happen was him saying no.

"Okay guys, pull over here and I'll give Doug a call."

"Sure, Little Elf." Zeek didn't think much of Alice's odd request.

But Eric, still stuck on the other end of the poll, had to repeat the line out loud just to make sure he heard her correctly."Ghosts have phones?"

"You'll see."

* * *

Near twisted his hair around his finger. "L?"

"Yes?"

"Alice is returning to the crime scene."

There was a pause, and then the sound of shuffled movements. Somewhere in the background, Near could have sworn he heard L swear. But that couldn't have been possible, since L wasn't one for swearing.

Near must have misheard.

* * *

Matt was in an uncomfortable position, but he had to endure it if wanted the plan to work. As long as he stayed hidden, he wouldn't have to end up fighting. Surprisingly, the only violence in Mello's plan was destroying the water heater, which served to distract the goons so Matt could maneuver his way into the large, non-functioning industrial unit located inside of the criminals nest. Mello also wanted to have a dramatic entrance, but Matt didn't think that was necessary. Mello didn't need an explosion to make his entrance dramatic; he just needed to walk into a room.

Besides the reason behind the explosion, Matt had his work cut out for him. L had contacted him, which meant he had to continuously give him updates, all the while keeping Mello from knowing about it. Then there were the planted cameras around the room he had to control with the help of his PSP and a whole lot of swear words. The connection was so _slow_—he wanted to chuck his PSP to floor.

Adjusting his headset, Matt tried to focus on the screen before him. His eyes darted to every man he could see, calculating their height and potential strength. Some had weapons exposed for all to see; the others probably concealed theirs. Taking that into account, Matt started to produce scenarios of what could possibly go wrong. He knew the importance of future planning. So, even if the plan were to backfire, he could at least think up a strategy of how to escape without bombarded with bullets. Thankfully, most Mello and Matt escaping plans included L and Near. Matt was grateful they had found them.

"Matt, we have a problem," L's voice was produced over his headset.

"What's that?" If L said there was problem, then it must have been something big.

"Seems my troubling blond is going to make an appearance."

Matt wanted to laugh, but he knew if Alice were to show up, she would end up doing something stupid. All the scenarios he pictured before were thrown out the window. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I'm going to call the authorities and see if I can keep her away, but I don't think that will suffice. Perhaps the FBI is willing to negotiate something."

To Matt, L's schemes sounded ridiculous. Getting the feds involved meant more Mello certainly wouldn't like to hear sirens anywhere near his operation. Plus, they'd lose all the evidence they worked so hard for. Matt wasn't about to waste his precious time putting up cameras just to see it all blow up in his face. So, he thought of a better plan. "Let me call her."

"I don't see how that will keep her away."

"Let me give it a try first. And if it doesn't work, you can call the cops," Matt comprised.

L was against it initially, but he understood Matt's dilemma with involving the police. If Mello did manage to pull off his plan, they'd just have to finish the case (which meant handing over a couple video tapes and signed confessions). After that, they could go home without being bothered by the trial's verdict. So, with much effort on his part, L agreed to let Matt call.

"Good, give me five minutes, and I'll have your blond-haired troubles solved." And with that, Matt disconnected L's line and quickly opened Alice's.

The phone hadn't even made it to the second ring before Alice picked up. "Matt!"

"Ace, we need to talk—"

"I was just about to call you!" She sounded out of breath. "We're on our way to help L, and I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Ace, I can't do you any favors right now. I'm sort of squished inside of a broken machine and hiding from criminals."

"Where are you?"

"At the very place you are driving to, and I would very much appreciate it if you stayed away." Matt hoped Alice would have listened to him, but her snort was all he needed to know.

"Why is everyone telling me this? I can help, if you would just let me!"

"I don't have much time to discuss this. But please, Ace, just this once, listen to us and go back to the hotel."

Alice was firm. "Not going to happen. If I were the good girl who obeys people's orders, then I'd never be where I am today. So, you either include me, or I'm going to do it all myself."

Matt's forehead throbbed. He had to think up a solution to the problem in under three minutes, or else L was going to call the police. If Alice wanted to be a part of the plan, then he was going to have to make a negotiation for the two parties. But first, he needed to tell some pretty pathetic lies to make it sound important. "Fine, you can help. But coming to the criminal's base will not be a wise move on your part. They already know who you and Zeek are. They'd kill you the moment they see you guys."

Alice had never considered that. Of course, they would know who she was. She was barely unforgettable. "That's true."

Matt was excited; his plan was working. And now, he just needed to give a finishing blow. "Yup, so I have another job you can do. There's a building just a few blocks down the street that was used for another part of their operations. It's abandoned now, but if you could go down there and take some pictures for future evidence, that would really be helpful." Matt held his breath, hoping with all his might that he could convince her of the lie. After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, Matt got her answer.

"Well…if that's what you guys need me to do, then I'll do it." Alice was a little disappointed. She was hoping for a bit more action.

Matt felt relief wash over him like raindrops. "Yes, we definitely need those pictures to prosecute them. Your phone has a camera on it, so just use that and report back to me when you're done."

"Fine," Alice huffed. "But I still need a favor from you."

Matt felt the blood drain from his cheeks. "Yes?" He astoundingly kept calm.

"After this is all done, I want a gun of my own."

Matt's fear was replaced with amusement, and he couldn't help the smile that came next. "I'll see what I can do."

Satisfied with his answer, Alice gave her promise to get the pictures, and then said her goodbyes. After Matt's phone went silent, he set it down next to him and ran his free hand through his hair. He was relieved he was able to divert Alice, but he wasn't so sure how well L would take to Alice wanting a gun. Anyway, for now, he would keep that little information to himself. Better to give L the good news first.

* * *

Alice put her phone away into her pocket. "So, Matt's text says it's the building with the blue door and yellow trim."

Eric scratched his cheek. "Those are weird colors for an abandoned druggy building."

Alice didn't put much thought into it. She was just happy to be a part of the crime fighting team. She was finally going to help, even if it was just taking a few pictures. Eventually she'll work her way up to bigger and better jobs. And with her new request to learn how to use a gun, maybe someday she'll be breaking and entering with Mello. The thought made her more motivated.

Doug's head popped through the back panel of the car. "I don't know about this."

Earlier, after they had pulled over, Alice had managed to call Doug and somehow get him to agree to come along. He sure wasn't happy about it, but when she told him he could watch over Zeek, he agreed without hesitation. He liked watching over Zeek much more than L, anyway. Doug had also told Alice about what L had been doing since she left, and most of what he said didn't surprise her. Of course L would go into hiding. All the action he'd ever saw was behind a computer screen. But Alice didn't mind, because that meant L wasn't going to get hurt, unless a crazy man found him and murdered him. She doubted that would ever happen.

"It's just taking pictures, Doug. Stop worrying."

Zeek glanced over at Alice. "My buddy is worried?"

Alice shrugged and, sounding bored, said, "He's been having a couple of episodes recently."

"Ain't that natural for ghosts to be a little bit off?" Eric wondered.

Doug gave Eric a slight glare. "What does he mean _a bit off_?"

"Down, Doug. Don't get angry with the truth. You have been a bit off lately."

Doug's glare moved to Alice, but he didn't say another word. Alice was grateful for that.

"Hey, is this the place?" Zeek suddenly pointed to a building up ahead. It was indeed a building with bright yellow trim and a dark blue door. It looked shabby, but then again, most of the buildings around this neighborhood did.

Alice's clapped her hands together. "That must be it."

Accepting that as an answer, Zeek pulled his RV to the side of the road. They all filed out quickly, standing in front of the building with their arms crossed. One of the windows on the first floor was broken, and the door looked like it was going to fall off its hinges. At least they weren't going to have to pick any locks.

Eric was put off by the site. "Nice place."

Zeek, on the other hand, thought the place wasn't so bad. "Looks like a good chill spot. If it wasn't in such a bad neighborhood, I bet I could fix this place up real nice. I could start my own bakery."

Alice gave Zeek a pleasantly surprised smirk."You want to start your own bakery?"

He smiled back in his usual way of looking content ."Yeah man, I would sell lots of brownies."

Doug leaned close to Zeek and grinned. "He was always an amazing baker."

"Shall we go in?" Eric had to interrupt the conversation. He knew if he didn't do it soon, they would be out on that street talking about brownies for the next hour.

Alice got pumped."Let's go!"

* * *

The phone call with L went amazingly well. Matt had told L what he had done to keep Alice away, and to his utter delight, L was satisfied with that. He didn't even have to convince L it was a good idea, which saved him plenty of time to get back on he should be focusing on, meaning Mello. Mello was still in the room with the drug suppliers, playing a round of poker. Matt's job was to record every word they spoke, and so far Mello was making them sing without them even knowing. The evidence they got from just a game of poker was overwhelming. Eduardo had given Mello a thorough explanation of how he ran his operation, which included a staggering ten other addresses that were linked with his business. With that much spilled beans, Matt could easily see all those men behind prison bars. He doubted they could find a lawyer good enough to saves their sorry asses.

Matt adjusted one of his cameras to get a better look at Eduardo, and then continued to listen in.

"So, what about your storage facilities? What can you offer me?" Mello was leaning back in his uncomfortable chair, holding his hand of cards in front of him.

Eduardo rubbed his prickly chin, looking a little frustrated with his hand. "I've got three locations that could support whatever room you need. It all depends on what you want to hide." He set his hand down on the table and declared a fold. "Mr. Rio," he then spoke. "What is it you want to hide?"

Mello hesitated with his answer, but then pushed five blue chips forward to offer up the ante. "New weapons," he declared.

"Weapons? What makes them important enough to hide?"

"I made them, which means they are of the utmost quality in firearms."

Eduardo must've been delighted to hear his news, because he leaned forward in his seat and gave Mello an eager look. "Will these weapons ever be on the market?"

Mello spared one glance over his hand of cards to Eduardo. He looked like a dog whining for a treat. Mello was disgusted. After the second player put in his chips, Mello went back to concentrating on his game. To answer the fool, he simply shrugged and said, "If you do your job right, then we'll see what the future will be."

Eduardo laughed, as if it was a joke between two friends. "Yes, of course."

Matt smiled at Mello's look of disgust. He always enjoyed watching Mello use his power to make criminals grovel. Mello's status in the underground market was incredibly high, which made his job a lot easier to apprehend the delinquents. And no matter how long Mello's been using this status, nobody has been able to discover his true intentions. Well, at least nobody has ratted him out yet.

"Full house." Mello set his hand down on the table, causing the other two who were still in the game to groan and throw their cards in the air. Mello dragged the small pile of chips his way and said, "Looks like I get that discount you promised me if I won."

"And I'm not one to break my promises. So, let's talk location. Did you have any place in mind?"

"Do you have any place close by?"

Eduardo leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin some more, contemplating all his properties. When he was done, he snapped his fingers as if the memory was an epiphany. "I do, actually. It's one of my smaller properties, but I think it should be a perfect match for you."

"Where is it?"

"Two blocks from here, on 71st street."

Matt felt the smile wiped clean from his face. His heart dropped to his stomach, and the pulse in his veins ran cold. The numbness took over his body like a virus, consuming what was once his small victory. He repeated the last few words Eduardo had said, thinking maybe he had misheard, but when Mello repeated the words out loud, there was no mistaking it. Matt had messed up big time, and he could have quite possibly sent Alice to her grave.

Matt started to shake. He stopped listening to Mello all together and started to text L as fast as he could. He didn't want to waste his time with explaining, so he wrote three simple words: _Call the police! _

After pressing send, he unhooked himself from all the wires and started to crawl in the opposite direction. It didn't matter if he was abandoning Mello; the guy was more than capable of taking care of himself. Alice, on the other hand, didn't know what she was getting herself into. If Eduardo owned that building, then he had no doubt in his mind there would be a couple goons guarding the place—goons with guns and no morality.

Coming close to the end, Matt tried to keep quiet in his haste, unhooking a tiny metal door with ease. He set it down with care and crawled out the back of the machine, contorting his body to make himself fit. When he was through, he immediately ducked to the floor and went for the open door to freedom. Thankfully, Mello had them all distracted, so nobody was paying attention to the redhead sneaking across the room.

Well, nobody expect for Mello, who noticed Matt right away. But Mello didn't look for long, not wanting to expose Matt as he ran out the room. But his curiosity sure was sparked. Matt would never leave his position unless it was an emergency. But what possibly could be going wrong?

* * *

Eric was the first to walk in, insisting that he did so just in case there was trouble. Alice had rolled her eyes at the thought. Matt had told her the place was abandoned. Obviously, there wouldn't be any trouble, unless they ran into a not-so-friendly hobo.

"This place smells musty,"was Eric's leading observation.

Zeek pointed to the swirls of dirty particles in front of him. "I even see dust in the air."

Alice walked further inside, looking around her and taking in the site before her eyes. There was a set of stairs leading to the second floor, some parts of its railing missing. By one corner of the room, there were broken boxes and bottles. Beside that was a table missing one of its legs, so it was tilted onto its side. And just behind the table sat a sheet covering a large pile.

Her intrigue was struck, and she just had to find out what was under that sheet. She pulled her phone out, getting ready to take pictures. She made a beeline for the mystery pile, causing Eric look back at her twice.

"You found something?"

When Alice reached the sheet, she eyed it like a hungry wolf. "I bet this is where they hide their stash."

"Alice—" Doug squeaked from the other side of the room. Since neither Eric nor Zeek could hear him, they moved close to Alice to see what she'd discovered. And Even though Alice could hear Doug, she still ignored him, letting her curiosity take over her instincts.

"You think it's more treasure?" Zeek wondered.

Eric kept it logical."It's probably just some more broken furniture."

Alice tuned both boys out and grabbed hold of the sheet. She could feel her heart start to race and the adrenalin pumping through her veins. She tugged as hard as she could and felt the sheet lift off like a bird in flight. When the sheet was cleared from her vision, all three of them gasped in perfect harmony.

"No way."

"I can't believe it."

"Flour?"

Since Alice was closest to Zeek, she hit him on the arm and told him to think with his brain.

"That ain't flour," Eric sighed.

"That's—" Alice then went into a whisper, as if the word was cursed. "—cocaine."

"What?" Zeek was shocked, taking a step back. Alice was just as taken aback by the site as well. It wasn't as if it was a small amount of the drug. There were boxes filled with large bags of the white powder, and that was just on the first floor. Who knows what else they were going to find if the continued up stairs.

Eric got closer to Alice. "This is bad. If there's still this much of the drug here that has to mean this place isn't abandoned, right?"

"I've still got to get pictures of this." Alice turned her phone sideways.

Eric grabbed her arm. "Ace, no, we should leave."

Alice glared at him, extruding out her bottom lip. "But I have to finish my job. They need these pictures to prosecute them."

"We need to—" Eric tried again, but he was interrupted by the sounds of heavy footsteps coming from the staircase. All of them held their breath at once. Knowing he shouldn't waste time, Eric pulled Alice over to the lopsided table, and pushed her to the ground so she would be out of sight. Alice tried to protest at first, but Eric quickly silenced her with a gesture to his lips. Zeek moved in beside her and popped his head over the table to see what would happen next. Eric grabbed the first sharp object he could find, which was a broken bottle, and maneuvered himself unseen to the bottom of the stairs.

The footsteps made their entry seconds later, introducing a burly mocha-colored man with matching hair and a beard. His shirt looked stained and his jeans were too big for his Alice didn't get to see much more since Zeek was pushing her down.

Having only a moment to say his prayers, Eric steadied the bottle in his hand. The burly man took one step off the stairs, and Eric charged. The man, caught off guard, collided with the bottle, its glass smashing his cheek and nose. A streak of blood formed as the man staggered, trying to grab the broken railing. With his weight, the railing could not hold him, causing him to crash to the floor.

Eric dropped what was left of the bottle in his hand and raced over to the table. "Run!" he screamed.

Zeek quickly grabbed Alice's arm and tried to pull her along. Alice's legs felt weak, but the strength Zeek gave her was enough to pull her from the floor.

The burly man was getting up."You bastard!" He spit some blood from his mouth and started to charge. Eric stopped, knowing the man was making a run for Alice and Zeek. He growled and rushed him like a linebacker.

"Eric, no!" Alice's fear was re-sparked, thinking back to the time he got shot. The burly man must have carried a gun as well, because all she could picture was Eric getting shot again.

But Eric wasn't going to listen to her. With his shoulders hunched down, he managed to tackle the man to the ground. The angry grunts and curse words were echoing around the room. Alice didn't know what do or how to stop it. She was tempted to jump into the fight and throw a few punches of her own, but Zeek wouldn't let her go.

"We have to help him!" she cried out.

Zeek never got a chance to give her a response, because, out of nowhere, another man appeared from a door behind them that they'd never seen before. The man was scrawny, but that didn't discount the fact that he was dangerous. In his hand was pistol—small but very powerful.

Alice went cold, feeling every part of her body turn to ice. She couldn't say a word or think of any way to escape. It was pure unadulterated fear, and it had taken over all her senses.

But to her luck, Zeek didn't seem frozen in place. In fact, he took action without even taking time to think over his plan. He grabbed one of the bags of cocaine and chucked it at the scrawny man, hitting him clear in the face and breaking it to create a white-powdered cloud. Alice didn't mean to inhale any of it, but it entered her throat, anyway. She went into a coughing fit, much like the scrawny man, who ended up dropping his gun. Alice was also blinded by the powder, causing her to blink back painful tears.

Noticing the gun was out of the man's hands, Zeek dived for it, being smart enough to keep his mouth shut and eyes closed as he entered the thick cloud.

Alice didn't know what was going on with Eric, but she could still make out the sounds of a struggle and no gun fire. So, it was safe to say nobody had been shot yet. But that didn't mean she was going to wait and let that happen. She rubbed off what she could of the white powder and watched as Zeek power-struggled for the gun. It turned out the thug had reached his gun at the same time Zeek had, so they were both playing tug-of-war with the weapon. She didn't waste a second more. Alice jumped into the struggle and managed pluck the gun from both of them. It was a small victory, but she laughed manically when she had it in her hand.

"You bitch! Give that back!" The scrawny thug went after her, but Zeek got to him first. He got him around the waste and pulled him back to the ground, much like what Eric and the burly man were going through in their struggle.

Alice back away from both fights and stood in the middle of the room with the gun pointed in front of her. She had the power now, and she wasn't going to waste it. "_Stop! Or I'll shoot!_"

Zeek's little struggled stopped, but unfortunately, Eric's only seemed to escalate. Panic took over, and Alice tried again with more desperation, aiming her stolen weapon at the burly man. "_I said stop! Or I'll shoot!_"

"Lights out, Little Missy." The voice from the staircase caused Alice develop goose-bumps. Another man had entered the room, aiming his gun directly at Alice. And this time there wasn't going to be any hesitation to pull the trigger. After the ruffian's statement, the sound of his gun went off, making the whole scene before Alice look as if her life was put into slow motion. There was but a brief moment where a flash of red blinded her and then there was nothing. There was no pain or feeling whatsoever. It was as if her body just shut down and was an empty shell with eyes. She couldn't move or even understand what was going on around her. She thought at any moment she would feel the ground under her, but for some reason her body stayed upright, refusing to go down. But that wasn't the strangest part. No, the strangest part was that she felt nothing, not even the graze of the bullet inside her.

She couldn't help the tears that flooded her vision. The blur of red hadn't been blood, nor had it been the fire ignited from the gun itself. No, it was the color of Matt's hair stepping in front of her, coming from nowhere. The reason she felt nothing was because nothing had happen to her. The bullet didn't strike her but it did the lovable redhead, who had collapsed to his knees.

Alice wanted to scream, but nothing came out. Seeing Matt in front of her was like watching an illusion. She didn't believe it at first. She couldn't imagine Matt was there. He was supposed to be somewhere hiding in some sort of machine. But there he was, grasping his stomach to slow the blood flow.

The support he carried on his knees eventually gave way, and he landed onto his side, avoiding any more impact on his wound. Alice felt her body shaking. Her hand let the gun go, and it fumbled to the floor. When Matt made a tiny gasping noise, Alice found the strength to move.

"_Matt!_" Her cry was the only sound she could comprehend. Everything else around her seemed to vanish, and all that was left was Matt loosing blood. She rushed to his side, sponging the pool of blood that was developing around him. She didn't care if she was getting covered in it; she wanted the bleeding to stop. She wanted to make all the blood go both of her hands, she covered his wound and pressed down. A painful groan came from Matt, but that didn't retract her hands.

A pitiful sob came from her lips. "_Matt_. _Hang on, Matt, I'm going to save you_." She couldn't stop her hands from shaking or the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't stop the bullet from hurting Matt or the thugs from attacking Zeek and Eric. She couldn't stop Doug's bad feeling or Mello's anger towards L. She couldn't even admit her true feelings toward L because she had been too scared. Why did she even try to do all those things? Where did all that confidence come from? In the end, Matt was shot, Eric and Zeek were hurt, Mello never stopped hating L, and L's heart was broken. She was a mess, and stopping Matt from bleeding to death was the only part of her conscious that knew was doing something right. Next time, she would listen. Next time, she would do as she was told, so nobody got hurt.

Pulling her head down, she choked back another sob. "Please don't take my little brother away from me." She shook her head, with her teeth clenched tight. Matt's breath started to feel fainter. Her head jerked up, and she looked into his eyes. He was staring at her, looking as if he wasn't sure what was happening around him. His stare looked blank, which made Alice panic more. "_Matt, stay with me, please! I don't want to lose you. Stay with me Matt, please! Please, Matt! Don't go!_" The blood on her hands felt cold. The tears became worse, mixing with Matt's blood as drops cascaded to the floor.

Between Alice's sobs and Matt's quick breaths, Alice never noticed the hand on her arm until it was starting to pull her away from her redhead friend. She didn't want to be away from Matt. She fought the hand. She screamed and cried as if she were reverting back to her five-year-old ways.

"_I can't leave him! He needs me!_"

"Ace, let the medics do their job," L whispered in her ear. When he had come to the scene, he had done what Matt had told him, then leading the police to where the gunfire was heard. His first instinct was to get Alice to a safety, but when he saw Matt on the ground bleeding, he was momentarily struck with an emotion of guilt and sorrow. Alice was pressing down on his wound and crying, making L want to sit down with her as well. But he had let the police take care of the shooter, which they did as soon as they got the chance. The culprit was taken out with a single shot, his corpse lying at the bottom of the steps.

Alice didn't want to listen to L. But through soft whispers and gentle strokes on her arm, L finally got her step away from Matt. The tears didn't stop, but she buried her face into his chest. L caressed her head, petting her hair down to try and untangle some of the blood. His other arm was wrapped around her waist, holding onto her as if she would fall at any moment.

He continued to speak gently to her, telling her it was going to be okay, but Alice just couldn't believe him. There had been a lot of blood, and Matt had felt cold. Alice had been around death all her life, so seeing Matt's eyes just reminded her of the many spirits she'd encountered before. As much as she wanted to believe L's soothing reassurances, she felt like she was about to lose one of her best friends.

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! (Sorry about the late chapter, but I wanted to make sure this chapter was good enough before I posted it.)**  
**

**ShaDow EmpIre, blackstar778, Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit, Crazyinabottle, SpringBorn, ZombiChirp, MeAFanfictionGirl, Honakaa-Honami, nazebaka, dragonrain618, Chester-Grey, and Kashagal and Natures Ruler. **(I can't believe I've gotten this far! And it's all thanks to you! Can I have a hug? I think I'm about to get emotional...)

**PhoenixBreaker90: **Thank you so much! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. xD

**Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: **Ah, that makes sense. Now let's see...hmm...is it a conscious?

**Speckles719: **I finally got to make the sluttly brownies and I LOVED them! The Oreo in the center really made a difference. They lasted only two days in my house. xD Thank you for sending all these amazing recipes! And thank you for continuing to read my story! I love reading all of your reviews, because they make me so happy! You've really kept me motivated to write and I could never thank you enough for that!**  
**

**uniquename200: **Oh yeah, school gets in the way of a lot things. I start next week, so I still get a little more freedom, but not much. Good luck with your AP classes!**  
**

**DragonMage101: **I'm not from the South, but I assumed they were all bad-ass. =) I'm glad to see that I was right. XD**  
**


	58. Together until the very End

I would like to take a moment of silence for the last chapter.

...

*Wells up*

*tries to hold it in*

*fans self*

Oh god...

_I can't believe this!_

*Bawls* *Sniffles*

I'M GOING MISS YOU!**  
**

_(Disclaimer: This is my last disclaimer...and I still don't own Death Note. Oh, balls.)**  
**_

**(A.N.** _This chapter is dedicated to a promise I made. Happy trails, my friend._)

* * *

**Together until the very End**

Ache.

A dull ache, but it prevented her from feeling anything else. Her tears had long since run dry. Even if she tried to squeeze another tear out, it would simply cause her more pain. She could only frown and watch the white tiled floor under her feet while her body pressed up against the wall. It was cold—but the frostbite in her heart felt colder.

Six hours: that's how long she'd endured this hospital. This hospital with the squeaky wheelchairs. The eggshell walls with emotionless doors. The busy empathetic nurses trying to ease her unbearable claustrophobic hallways. This hospital seemed lifeless, like most of its patients… Like her adopted brother. Six hours of sitting outside of Matt's room, and she'donly heard beeping monitors.

Sometimes, L shuffled over, either bringing her orange juice boxes or offering a chair to sit in. But Alice couldn't leave Matt. She refused let go when she held him in a pool of his own blood, and she refused to leave his side for some cushioned chair. She was determined to stay on that cold floor until her butt hurt and her feet turned purple.

Watari sat in a corner of the room, keeping to himself, his phone in hand. He was texting Roger, updating his friend on the case. Thoughts of Matt, however, never stopped creeping into his mind.

He tried concentrating on his work. But seeing Alice curled up, head pressed between her knees, made Watari's stomach churn. Matt's gunshot wound was far from minor. The more he thought about Matt, the more anxious he got. But he couldn't let that show. Occasionally, Alice glanced his way, looking for an update on how Matt was doing. If he showed even an ounce of despair, she would feed off it like a hungry infant and descend on a downward spiral Watari knew she would never recover from. So, he stayed calm.

L, on the other hand, showed concern, but it wasn't directed toward Matt. It was directed toward Alice. Every time he offered food or water, she wouldn't take it. No matter how many times he offered her a chair, she refused it. He even offered her a blanket after noticing her shivering—but she rejected that as well.

It seemed no matter how hard he tried to bring her to her senses, she wouldn't. She was far gone, off in her own world, where time was her only medicine. And even the time it took to wait for Matt's recovery had already dented her metal state. He checked on Matt every ten minutes, hoping to improve his condition. He didn't care if the doctors kept telling him to leave. The faster Matt recovered, the better Alice would feel. So L was going to use all his authority in that hospital. He was even willing to look over the medical records himself.

"Ryuzaki," Watari said, uncrossing his legs.

L picked at his jeans, giving little indication that he was listening to Watari.

But his friend continued, anyway: "I've ordered our tickets to Winchester."

L's response was halfhearted."Yes, thank you."

Watari sighed. Having both Alice and L in a dark state did not make his job any easier.

Mello entered, gliding through the doors like a Jedi. "When do we leave?"

Watari was about to answer him, but L spoke first: "So soon, Mello? Wouldn't you like to stay and convolute another plan to assassinate Near?"

Mello's jaw tighten. L's sarcasm hit home, and it was obvious from the beginning L was blaming him for Matt's injuries. Not wanting to continue the discussion, Mello looked away, his arms wrapped tight across his chest.

L continued, "Your reckless decision to impose a plan without the consent of the team was a danger to yourself and to those involved. You ultimately risked the lives of three civilians and even managed to get your partner shot. How can I trust you with my title if you're continuously negligent?"

"It was a good plan! I had everything under control!"

"Then explain to me why Matt needs medical attention."

The muscles in Mello's neck flexed. He held his breath, his cheeks turning blotchy red. "If Ace hadn't—"

"Do not blame this on Ace."

Watari took out his handkerchief. Just the mention of her name broke him into a sweat.

"Are you telling me she was innocent in this whole thing? She didn't even follow your orders! _Matt saved her life taking that fucking bullet_!"

"She was not trained like you, Mello. She was unaware of the trouble in her plan. You, however, should have known the consequences."

"That's bullshit!"

"Take some responsibility, Mello. Stop acting like a teenager."

"You piece of—"

A tired voice carried down the hallway. "Enough."

L was about jump out of his seat when he noticed Alice getting up from the floor. "Ace, are you all right?"

Alice rubbed her eyes with one hand, placing her other hand on her hip for support. She was tired. She just wanted to find a mattress and pass out for a few days. "I'm fine," she lied. "But you two need to stop playing the blame game. We are all at fault for this mess."

Watari put down his handkerchief. "That was very mature of you, Ace."

"That's right." Her frown deepened. "I'm the most mature person you'll ever meet. I'm the reason why mature's in the dictionary. If you look in it, you'll see I'm one of the other meanings." Alice placed her hand over mouth, as her cheeks started to turn a deep red. "I outrank you all in maturity, because I'm that damn mature." Her voice started cracking.

L got up, reaching her in a matter of seconds. He curled his hand around hers, drawing her in, letting her head rest on his shoulder. She hugged him, her tight grip save for his white shirt, crinkling it until she had a handful in each hand.

L stroked her hair, not sure if there was anything else he could do. He wasn't even sure why she was crying. Watari had given her a compliment, right? Was she upset over that, or was she still upset over Matt's injury? Maybe she was upset over what Mello had said.

Mello turned to the wall, rubbing his neck. He never meant to blame Alice. He was already furious with himself, and he wasn't sure how else to relieve his anger. He couldn't even imagine a time when she wasn't part of Wammy's House. Did he just bottle up all his anger before?

"How cruel, Mello, making Ace here cry," L said.

"I did not!"

Alice lightly punched L in the gut. "Stop it," she grumbled into his shoulder.

Then Near appeared, walking in with a stethoscope around his neck, and a lab coat much too large for his small frame. His hands drowned in its sleeves, and its buttons toward the bottom were undone. In his hand was a clipboard, and he walked in hugging it against his chest.

"Is Ace broken, too? Would you like me to do an examination?"

L felt a tinge of annoyance, trying to pull Alice closer to him.

Alice peeked over L's shoulder and made a sound that resembled a gasp. More tears weld up at the brim of her eyes, and she pushed L aside to hug Near. She had him around her arms so fast, Near didn't see her coming. He was squished against her chest like a ragdoll.

"You're so cute!" she cried, tears running down her cheeks.

Near froze, unsure of what he had done to make Alice cry. She obviously needed much more than a doctor.

"Where did you get that coat, Near?" Watari asked.

Near wiggled his head out so he could breathe and said, "There was a locker room full of them. I couldn't find one my size."

"You shouldn't take things that aren't yours…" Watari's comment went unheard, because another man with a white lab coat walked in looking dazed. He eyed the room as if he was searching for a lost item. When his eyes landed on Alice and Near, he had a moment of reflection. He didn't make the connection until L broke the silence by coughing once.

"Is that my coat?" the doctor asked.

Alice didn't realize he was Matt's doctor right away. When she finally figured it out, she let go of Near and crossed the room with long strides. L failed to grab her by the time she was in the doctor's face with tear-stained cheeks.

"Is Matt going to be okay? Can we see him now? He's not going to die, is he? You fixed him, right?"

The doctored looked even more baffled than before. Every time he tried to give her an answer, Alice would interrupt him with yet another question about Matt. She was even starting to repeat some of the same questions with more urgency, as if the doctor was refusing to give her answers.

Noticing her change in tone, L quickly snatched her around the arm and pulled her back so the doctor could breathe again. Alice fought him at first, but as L's grip got stronger, the more she struggled. "Calm down, Ace. Matt's going to be okay. Just let the doctor speak," he whispered in her ear.

Taking the opportunity of freedom, the doctor composed himself and cleared his throat. "I would be happy to give you Matt's results, but that boy over there has his chart. So if you wouldn't mind—"

"The bullet was successfully removed, and the repair to his left lung went according to plan. He's safely out of surgery and is currently being treated with antibiotics. Judging by the results given here about his medical examination in regards to his blood work, I'd say Matt will pull through just fine, and is even healthy enough to have visitors."

L loosened his grip on Alice."Is that so, Near?"

The doctor made a hard line with his lips. "Could I please have the chart back?"

"Is that true? Can we see Matt now?" Alice squeaked, her lower lip on the verge of a quiver.

Watari felt sorry for the doctor as he watched the physician run his hand over his aged features, stress lined on his forehead. Watari easily sympathized with the gentleman, almost willing to offer him his spare handkerchief.

"Yes, you are allowed to go visit him now," Near answered

Alice broke from L's embrace and whizzed by Near so fast, she almost tripped him over. When she reached Matt's door, she used her entire body to plunge that piece of mixed woods wide open.

The doctor watched as Alice banged the door so loud, it woke up a bundle of newborns on the second floor. Faint wails came from the entryway of the stairs.

Watari stood up slowly, stretching his back. He sighed heavily and then walked toward the sounds of Alice squeaking and hiccuping. As he passed the doctor, he gave him a small pat on the shoulder and an appreciating smile. But, the physician didn't seem to notice.

"Hey! You're causing a scene! Don't just run around like that!" Mello's shouts faded as he followed her in the room. Slowly, Near entered right behind them.

L was the last to follow, waiting for Watari. "What are your thoughts about all of this?"

"I'm relieved to hear Matt's health is back to normal, but I'm fearful this will happen again."

"I agree, and I think some changes will be in order. Later tonight, I would like to discuss my thoughts with you."

Watari nodded slightly."Of course."

L and Watari entered the noisy room. L first observed Alice sitting beside Matt, her face close to the damaged boy's. Matt was awake, half-grinning as if he'd never even been shot. Only his iconic PSP and goggles were missing.

"Near said you would be fine, but is that true? You aren't going to die, are you?" Alice leaned closer, but Matt grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back.

"I'll be fine, Ace. Don't worry. A shot can't kill me. It'd have to take an army of bullets to kill me." He managed a chuckle.

Alice slapped his hand off her shoulder and gapped. "Don't jinx yourself, you idiot!"

Matt laughed harder.

Mello took a step forward."How's your breathing?"

Matt dropped his snicker to a sigh of relief. "I've had worse."

That got a smirk out of Mello. But for Alice, it cued Matt's pain.

"No more laughing for you, Mister! If it hurts, then don't do it!"

"Ace—"

"Don't you 'Ace' me!" Alice continued. "I want you to recover, not tear your lungs open again!"

"Laughter wouldn't cause his lungs tear, Ace," Near said.

"But what if the surgery wasn't done right? What if the stitches—or whatever the hell they do to organs— comes apart and he bleeds internally?" Alice started hyperventilating. The more she spoke, the raspier her voice got."What if you die in your sleep, and I try to come wake you up, but you won't wake up? No matter how hard I shake you or slap your face, you're just dead!" Tears cascaded down her blotchy cheeks.

Matt's smile faded. He reached for her hand and squeezed it, as if to pull her back to reality. "Ace, I'm going to be okay. The surgery was a success, and you have to have faith that I will always wake up when you slap my face. No reason for me not to." Matt's words managed a small chuckled from Alice, but that still didn't stop her next tear from falling.

She sniffed."You're not allowed to die without my permission, okay?"

Matt's radiant smile returned."Yes, ma'am."

L watched as Alice and Matt continued to joke. Alice wiped away the last of her tears and laughed at Matt's comment about his lack of confidence without his goggles. Even Mello moved in closer to join in on the fun. Whenever Mello started to make fun of Matt's weak body, Alice would slap him, and that only seemed to make Matt happier.

It was all so surreal for L, as if he was looking through a looking glass with a fogged over lens. He comprehended bits and pieces of what was happening, but the whole picture evaded him. The case was over, and the criminals were apprehended. But was it worth the pain to see Matt—and even Alice—hurt? Before he had feelings for Alice, he would have thought this wasn't the correct way to apprehend criminals. Sacrifices, however, sometimes had to be made.

Now, he couldn't fathom Alice or his successors getting injured. Guilt twisted his stomach into a knot. Part of him regretted forming relationships with these people. Watari should have sufficed; that way, he wouldn't have to worry about these petty feelings like guilt or sympathy. The only life he would have to look out for was his own, but now that he had _friends_…

"L," Alice said.

L paused his jumbled thoughts and focused on Alice. She was standing up and giving him a look of bliss and determination. He wasn't certain what had made her so happy, but at least she wasn't crying anymore.

She continued, "Can we talk outside for moment?"

Immediately, L had discouraging thoughts. He wondered if she was going to reject him, but then wondered why someone would be so ecstatic to do so. So, his hypothesis changed to Matt's recovery. She must have wanted to discuss how long they would be in the hospital now…but then again, couldn't that type of conversation be public? L bit his thumb and reflected back to his original fear. Was their relationship going to end so soon?

Alice didn't wait for L's answer. She grabbed his arm and led him out the room, eyes watching them as they departed. When they were outside the door, Alice overheard Matt whisper to Mello about a potential make-out session. She turned bright red but kept moving, debating later to staple his lips shut. That would prevent him from laughing and making his lungs burst.

"Where are we going?"

Alice squeezed L's arm to make him relax. She could feel the muscles under his shirt tense. They felt like rocks, making her wonder if L overheard Matt as well. "Somewhere private."

L kept his thoughts to himself after that, letting her guide him down the hall and up a fight a stairs. By the third flight, he became more anxious. They were heading toward the roof, and there weren't many escape routes on a roof.

Walking through a door, Alice felt a cold breeze blast her hair back and sting her eyes until they started to water. She dragged L a few more steps until the door shut behind them.

"Why couldn't we have discussed this downstairs?"

Alice turned around."Because I want this to just be between you and me."

"So I should assume it's about our relationship, correct?"

Alice cleared her throat and looked away in discomfort. "Yeah, part of it is about that, but I first wanted to ask you a question."

L moved his thumb to his bottom lip. "Oh? What is it?"

Alice took a deep breath. "I want to work with you again, but I understand that what happened tonight was not acceptable." She eyed L to see what kind of expression he was making. Unfortunately, it was the same one he's always had, stoic and uninterested. She continued on: "So I want to learn how to be a better detective. And I know that it's a lot of work and I don't have the same genius mind everyone else has, but I have the determination. And I don't want to be a hindrance to your work anymore." She made one last pause, and then went for it. "So, will you teach me?"

L took a moment to consider Alice's request. She had accompanied him on a couple cases so far, and he had no doubt she would be with him for a few more. It would be wise to teach her the precautions of his work. She knew about changing her name and keeping her status quiet, but there was more she should understand. The only problem was the lack of time he had for other expenses. There was always a case to solve, and teaching Alice would be overwhelming. He was hardly sleeping as it was. He needed at least one day of the week to sleep. Taking a deep breath, he let his thumb drop from his lips. "We could work something out, but I need you to promise me one thing."

"Anything!"

L eyed her suspiciously. "And it can't be one of those broken promises you made before."

"Cross my heart." She made the gesture.

L wasn't entirely convinced, but it wasn't as if he could deny her when she was looking at him in that innocent kind of manner. "Then I will help you."

Alice smiled and made a sound between a squeak and a squeal. "That's great! Thank you!"

L was content to see her excited, but he knew her excitement wouldn't last long. She had a short attention span. He wasn't sure how much longer she would be interested in becoming a detective. For now, he would let her do as she pleased, but he wasn't going to waste his time. He planned on letting Watari teach her for the first year, and see where that led to. "Now we should talk about our relationship." L wanted to move on—picturing Alice as a detective was almost impossible to do.

Alice's lips formed a hard line. Sooner or later she would have to have this discussion with him, so she might as well get it over with. She took a deep breath and said, "Fine, let's talk about us."

Silence.

They were both uncertain of what the other one was thinking. Staying quiet was their only option, until one or the other had something to say. Alice fiddled with her thumbs behind her back; L reverted back to biting his thumb. It was terribly awkward, and there was only so much of the emotion Alice could take before she burst.

"After this whole ordeal, I've come to realize that my feelings for you are real," she started, sounding as if she was going to give her confession in one breath. "I missed you so much when we were apart, and the thought of you hating me made me feel like crap." She looked down. "I want to be with you, and to solve cases with you, and—" She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips. "—and I want us to be a family, including everyone at Wammy's House."

L looked like he was about to speak, but he stopped and closed his mouth.

Alice had nothing more to say at that point, so she waited for L to take it all in. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She was so scared he had given up on her, and she hated that he wasn't saying anything. She'd hoped they would hug it out and have this wonderful ending, her legs kicking in the air. And they would both laughing, petals falling around them. Of course, that would never happen, but she couldn't help her over-active imagination. She just wanted their relationship to be genuine.

L let out a sigh. His sigh was so unexpected, it made Alice jump. She held her heart and swallowed a clump of tension.

L finally spoke: "I'm so relieved." He sounded exhausted. "I thought you were going to end our relationship."

"What?"

"Judging by how our relationship was going, I didn't have much faith in our future."

Alice couldn't help the bubble of giggles that came out next. She found his concern to be a concern of her own, and her laughter grew louder. "Well, I can promise you right now I have no intentions of leaving you."

To her surprise, L smiled briefly. It was enough to get her laughing again. Without a warning, she pulled him into a tight hug and squeezed around his upper torso. Her smile never left her lips. She felt warmth she had missed for the longest time, and it was nostalgic to feel it surrounding her heart. Alice pushed her face deeper into L's shoulder, letting his hands trail until they found a comfortable position on the small of her back. He was gentle with her frame; yet, she continued to squeeze. She wanted to show him how much affection she could give in one hug. If it wasn't going to be enough, then hell, she might even give him that make-out session Matt was talking about.

L started to wince. "I can't breathe."

Alice immediately let go and took a step back. She felt bad, but her smirk remained. "Sorry about that."

"It's quite all right." He attempted to smooth his shirt.

She sighed."I guess I just got caught up in the moment."

"Well, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy your romantic overture."

Alice giggled once more but then moved aside to reach for the door. "Let's go back and check on Matt. I've got to make sure he isn't making up any more theories about us. If were gone too long, he might think we're getting eloped or something."

L moved out of the way so she could reach the door and said, "Eloped? You already said you wanted us to be a family, so wouldn't that be considered a proposal?"

Alice gripped the door handle tightly. Without turning around she said, "How about we get through the idea of being a couple first before we move on to husband and wife?"

"That won't work."

"What?" She turned her head around, seeing L as he stared down at her hand holding the door handle.

With one finger pointing, he said, "That door. It won't open. It was made to automatically lock once shut. Most doors leading to the roof on public buildings do that."

Alice's jaw dropped. She snorted at L, not believing him, and then pulled at the handle as if she were trying to open a pickle jar. No matter how hard she worked at it, it wouldn't open.

"Goddammit! Why didn't you tell me before we got up here?"

"I had more worries to contemplate. A sealed door was the least of my troubles."

"ARGH!" She tried the door again, kicking it this time. _"Somebody open this door!"_

"No one can hear you, Ace. We are on the roof, and the floor below us is undergoing construction."

"_L! You're not helping!" _

Even though Alice was pounding at the door like a wild silver-back gorilla, L couldn't help but find her incredibly adorable.

"_Son of a bitch! You stupid bloody door!"_

* * *

To Matt's relief, his goggles and PSP were returned to him. He didn't waste a second throwing those bad boys over his eyes and turning on his PSP to give it its regular ten-minute upgrade.

Mello leaned over Matt's shoulder to look at the PSP. "Have those recordings been sent already? Do we have the conformation e-mail yet?"

"Can you wait 'til it's on? I've got to upgrade a few things first before I check my e-mail."

"Matt, we can't leave this country until we know the FBI has all our evidence. I don't want to have to come back here and do this again!"

Matt rolled his eyes. "You've been waiting for six hours already; you can wait another ten minutes."

Mello grumbled but didn't say another word. He wasn't about to fight with someone who just came out of surgery. He sat down on a plush chair near the window quietly, occasionally playing with the ties on his boots to pass the time.

Noticing Mello's obedience, Matt smiled proudly and clicked away at his PSP. Of course, he did his normal upgrades, but for kicks and giggles, he had some fun hacking. He was never one to resist temptation, and he'd been unconscious for at least five hours. He needed to exercise his brain, and what better way to do so than spying using the surveillance system in the hospital. If Alice and L were getting it on, Matt wasn't going to let it happen without getting recorded footage as blackmail. He was about 99.99 percent sure they weren't doing anything nasty, but Matt had to see for himself to prove his assumption.

"I wonder where Watari went," Near spoke from Matt's left side. He was opposite of Mello, keeping a safe distance.

Matt kept his focus on his PSP. "I think he went to go talk to a doctor. He mumbled something about a stolen coat and a broken door."

Mello snorted.

Near reached for Matt's hand, pulling up Matt's sleeve.

Oddly, Matt felt a cold grip on his wrist. Near pulled his arm to the bed, which caused Matt to end his game of hide-and-go-seek.

"Uh…Near, what are you doing?"

"I'm checking your pulse."

"Shouldn't that be the doctor's job?"

"He's incompetent. I've researched his past records, and I don't think he's qualified enough to take care of you. The surgeon, however, did an impeccable job. These stitches are magnificent."

Matt pushed away Near before he took off his shirt completely. As much as he appreciated Near's concern, he wasn't about to let him poke and prod his body.

"I'm fine, Near. I don't need another check-up."

"I only wish to double-check the previous doctor's work. It would be a waste of our time if you ended back in the hospital for a minor mistake some armature physician made."

That managed a chuckle out of Matt. "You're really worried about me, aren't you?"

Near didn't respond, but his silence said it all for Matt. It wasn't often Near showed concern for others, but Matt could always tell when Near was upset over something. So, Matt sighed and moved his wrist in front of Near. Near stared at it, unsure of what Matt was implying.

Matt wiggled his wrist. "Go ahead, check my pulse."

Near turned a slight shade of pink, but he took his wrist.

Matt watched Near's expression go from tame, to a bit discouraged.

"Your heart rate isn't easily readable on your wrist. Take off your shirt so I can use my stethoscope."

"For God's sake,Near!" Mello barked, standing up from his chair.

Watari entered the room, poised and proper. "Mello, there is no need to yell."

His company eased the tension in the room, but Mello wasn't ready to take a seat.

"I've just spoke with the doctor, and he's willing to let Matt go early, as long as he doesn't strain his body too much."

"That's awesome." Matt was growing homesick like crazy, and there was nothing more he wanted to do than to sit on his bed and play his games for a week straight.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of this stupid hospital." Mello insisted.

"Not so fast, Mello. I understand your enthusiasm for returning home, but we have to wait for Miss Ace and L to return. We also have two guests we still have to take care of."

"Guests?" Mello was puzzled, but then a light bulb turned on in his head. "Oh right, those two goons Ace was traveling with."

"What happened to them?" Matt asked. He couldn't ever recall seeing Alice's friends anywhere.

"A young man named Eric suffered a bruised rib, but nothing too serious. The other fellow was luckily unharmed. Currently, they are back at the hotel. I've made sure to provide them anything they desire for the time being."

Matt relaxed back onto his pillow. "That's good to hear."

"Only Ace would befriend complete strangers and find time to get into trouble on some God awful road trip."

"Jealous, Mello?" Matt smirked.

"Hardly," Mello growled.

"Ace is an adventurous woman," Watari admitted.

"I agree, she's very unpredictable. At this very moment, she could be causing trouble, and we'd all be unaware until the very last minute."

Near's statement caused everyone to hold their breath. Thoughts of Alice doing something idiotic and or dangerous raced in their minds.

Matt laughed uneasily. "Where did they say they were going again?"

* * *

"Your plan is quiet dangerous, and I'm 97.89 percent sure it won't work."

"Well, I don't see another way down, so just give me your shirt." Alice made a gesture with her hand.

L was hesitant. "I've done the calculations, and with your weight, that kind of rope will not support you."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"That's not what I was implying—"

"Listen here, Mister." She placed her free hand on her hip, the other holding up a small bundle of rope. "Relationships require trust, so you are going to have to trust me. I'm going to use this rope to propel to a window, and break it open using this rock." She kicked a good piece of concrete next to her. "Then I'll race back up here and come get you."

"Why are your plans always so straight forward?" L mumbled to himself.

Alice didn't miss his remark, and playfully added to it. "Don't forget violent. I like explosions and destruction in my plans."

"And why won't you let me pick the lock?"

"Because what's the fun in that? What better way to test my skills at problem solving then to propel down the side of a four-story building?" Alice beamed.

"Once again, your logic eludes me."

Alice sighed. "Fine, let's make a deal then. I'll allow you to pick the lock, if you let me have a gun."

"I refuse."

"Then give me your shirt so I can make a loop for my arms to hold onto."

L felt a twinge of pain between his eyes. _Why was he in love with this woman again?_

Alice started to unravel the rope, running it through her hand to test its strength. "Now,where should I tie this…?"

L had to step in at that point. "Give me the rope, Ace."

Alice snorted. "No."

L took a step forward. "Ace—"

"You can't stop me, L. I'm going to do this."

L accepted the challenge. He wasn't fast, but he didn't have to be. He took her by sheer surprise, clutching her wrist in a tight grip.

Alice sucked in a hiss, and then growled. "You're going to regret that."

"No matter. I clearly have the strength to hold you down."

"We'll see about that." Then, all of a sudden, Alice tried to pull away by ducking to the ground and using her entire body to pull him along. L, however, was quick to respond and used his other hand to grab her collar and pull her back up. Alice shrieked, but that didn't stop L from hunching his body and using his shoulder to hoist Alice in the air. Alice continued to scream, this time slamming her fists against L's back. L kept her balanced on his shoulder for the sake of keeping her off the ground. She was more dangerous on the ground.

"Let me go you, dumb fat panda!"

"Sticks and stones, my dear Ace, sticks and stones."

That's when Alice started kicking. L almost lost his balance, but quickly took control by wrapping an arm around her legs.

"My plan is perfect! Let me propel down and break the window!"

Through Alice's screams, L hadn't heard the door unlock and open. Watari and the three boys stood behind him, looking as if they were watching a fireworks display. Some of them smiled, others gawked, and then there was Near who seemed more interested in watching a flock geese fly by in a triangle formation.

Alice calmed instantly. "Oh hey, guys. How's it going?"

_A second ago she was wailing like a toddler, and now she's smiling? _Apparently, L would never come to understand her.

Matt was the first to respond: "Do you want us to leave you two alone so you can finish doing…whatever you're doing?" He tried to wipe the smirk off his lips, but he couldn't. He'd overheard Alice screaming about jumping off the hospital and breaking some window. Near was right—she was very unpredictable.

"That won't be necessary." L put Alice down. "You've fixed our dilemma, so we can all go now."

Mello looked like he wanted to say something, but Alice beat him to the punch…literally. She punched L in the stomach. L cringed, grabbing his stomach to protect himself from another attack.

"Next time, I'll aim for your balls," Alice scoffed, starting to walk away.

"Ace!" Watari exclaimed.

Matt had a good laugh though, and Mello looked like he was going to join him. "Nice one!" Matt said.

"I suppose I deserved that," L admitted, waving off Watari's worried questions about his health.

Alice continued her walk past the boys and was descending the stairs when she shouted, "Let's go home!"

* * *

Alice was hit with déjà vu after everyone piled into the SUV. She was—once again—put in the back with L, while Matt and Mello sat in the middle, Near and Watari in the front. It was like they were driving to that old house again, boring scenes and humming noises in all. But this time, Alice knew her ending destination would be worth the trip. Today, they would finally go home. She couldn't wait to hug everyone back at Wammy's House.

L was concerned. He watched Alice before the vehicle started moving, and she hadn't said a word to him or even looked his way since their little_ talk_. "Your leg hasn't stopped moving since we left the hospital."

"I'm anxious."

"Anxious about what?"

Mello snorted. "You on your period or something?"

Alice kicked the back of his seat, causing him to growl. He rubbed his back, glaring.

"Shut it," she added.

Matt shook his head and clicked his tongue at Mello.

Near made the next assumption: "You must be anxious to reunite with your two friends."

"Friends?" Alice raised an eyebrow. But in two seconds, it felt like she'd been slapped by a baseball bat. "Oh my God! Zeek! Eric! Did we leave them at the hospital? I can't believe I forgot about them!"

"Calm down, Ace." L lightly patted her shoulder. "They're fine. We are on our way back to the hotel where we've sent them to wait for us."

"You didn't lock them up, did you? You know how I feel about that."

"Of course not. I instructed that they were not allowed to leave the building or have any contact with their relations until I returned."

Alice leaned back in her seat and sighed. "Well, that's a step up from your usual method."

"I should warn you, though, about my circumstances concerning your friends. They don't know I am L, and I would like to keep it that way."

"But they already know I'm working with you."

"They know you're working with L, but they don't know I'm L. So please keep my identity a secret."

"Oh, got it." Alice winked. "So, who are you then?"

"Your—_cough_—lover," Matt said.

"Shut up, you little weasel!" Alice's voice went up an octave.

L pretended like he didn't hear anything. "You can refer to me as Ryuzaki."

Matt started singing: "Ace and L sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S—"

"I'm going to kill you!" Alice lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Matt's neck.

Watari gasped. "Miss Ace, no!"

Matt clawed at her arms to unwrap them. He was still laughing, but he understood that if he struggled too much, he could damage the work surgically done to his lungs.

Mello was quick to help Matt in his situation. "Ace, let go!"

"Stop laughing!" Alice sounded like a mouse on speed.

L and Near watched with amusement. L didn't know why, but seeing the chaos gave him comfort. This was how it should be. They were all together and in good health. This was the kind of happiness he'd been seeking; working as a detective wasn't enough anymore. He'd come to a point where having this type of environment has greatly improved his performance. Yes, this felt right.

* * *

When the SUV pulled up to the hotel, Alice jumped out and raced towards the door so fast that she didn't even let Matt or Mello fold their seat down so she could have room to exit. She simply crawled over the seat and took her time walking over Matt, having her revenge in the process. By the time everyone was out of the vehicle, Alice was in the lobby, running around screaming for Zeek and Eric. L didn't get to tell her what room they were in before she was bolting up the stairs.

Watari felt exhausted as he rubbed his neck with his handkerchief. He apologized to the employees, who'd finally returned to their jobs at the desk.

Matt walked in rubbing his neck. "I hope she doesn't destroy any of the doors."

Watari felt sweat run down his temples. He had forgotten Alice's habit of kicking down doors. He already had to pay for the door at the hospital. "God help us all."

"Crazy bitch," Mello grumbled as he started to walk toward the elevator. Everyone followed him in suit. When they reached the third floor, the elevator doors opened, revealing Alice running past and screaming Zeek's name as if she was on fire. How she managed to climb three flights of stairs so quickly was beyond baffling.

_"Zeek, where are you?"_

A muffled voice finally responded to her cries. _"Little Elf?"_

Alice abruptly stopped. _"Zeek?"_

A door at the end of the hall opened, and Zeek stepped out, curious.

Alice just about fainted with joy. "_ZEEK_!"

Zeek opened his arms for a hug. "Little Elf! There you are! I was wondering where you went."

Alice ran into his open arms, squeezing him tightly, and pulling him off the ground for a split second. Zeek enjoyed the little rush and bubbled with laughter.

"I'm so happy you're okay!"

Zeek squeezed her back. "Likewise, Little Elf."

When Alice finally had enough, she let go and eyed Zeek. He seemed healthy, which was a good enough sign for Alice. "Where's Eric?" she asked.

"He's going to the bathroom; he should be back soon."

"Miss Ace," Watari interrupted.

Alice frowned. "What?"

"I'm sorry, but we don't have much time for conversation. Our plane leaves soon, and we have to reach the airport on time. We've only returned to say our goodbyes and send them back home."

Alice's upset look turned to panic. Her eyes widened, and she looked to L for confirmation. He nodded his head. Alice gasped and turned back to Zeek. "But I'm not ready to say goodbye!"

"Aw, Little Elf, I don't want you to go either. You still haven't tasted my brownies yet."

"That's right!" Alice then looked to L with pleading eyes. "I haven't tried his brownie recipe yet!"

"Ace, it's unnecessary to wait for a brownie recipe."

She crossed her arms. "Out of all the people to say that, I never would've thought you'd be one of them."

"I'm sorry, Ace." L did feel bad that she was upset. But he had to return home. And he was sure Alice would want that as well.

"Ace?" A southern voice echoed down the hall.

Alice started to choke up. "Eric?" She saw him walk to her. A smile spread across his lips, and he walked faster. Alice didn't waste a second to run to him. She collided into him with an embrace so warming, the entire room seemed to disappear around her. She'd worried about Eric the most since she'd saw him on the ground struggling with the large muscular man. "I'm so happy you're alive," she mumbled into his chest.

L watched with irritation. He was almost tempted to rip them apart and drag her to the airport, but he knew she would hate him if he did that. So he kept to himself for the time being. Eventually, they would all be on the plane, and he'd never have to see this Eric again.

Eric winced and had to pull Alice away.

Alice was confused at first, but then she remembered his bruised rib. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you got hurt. Are you okay?"

He chuckled. "I'm all right, darlin'." Eric then looked over her shoulder, noticing the group that'd gathered outside of his room he was sharing with Zeek. He recognized Mello, Matt, and the old man, but the one with the mop of black hair and the other one in white were new. They both had a kind of mechanical stare that made him feel uncomfortable.

Eric pointed at L. "Who's that?" Alice looked over her shoulder.

Zeek said, "He's the dude who's really famous, right? L?"

Alice coughed awkwardly. "Uh, no, this is Ryuzaki."

L took over the conversation. "I work for L, much like the rest of my colleagues. Please pay no attention to me. I'm only waiting for Alice to say her farewells. I have an escort waiting for you when you are ready to be taken home."

Alice scrunched her face. _That was subtle…_

"Farewell? What are you talkin' bout? Ace here is leaving?"

Alice patted his shoulder. She too was upset, but the more she thought about Wammy's House, the more she became homesick. "I wish I could take you both with me." She glanced over at L and pleaded, but he answered her plea by shaking his head. Alice continued to pout.

"Where's home, Little Elf? Couldn't we just come visit you?"

Eric rolled his eyes. "Isn't it obvious she's from England? It won't be that easy to visit her."

"Bummer."

"Bummer is right," Alice agreed.

"How much longer do you need to say your goodbyes?" Near asked, impatient. It was his job to watch the time, and they were dangerously close to their departure.

Eric didn't look happy after that. "Why is the little snowman telling us to hurry up?" he asked Alice.

Mello unexpectedly chuckled, which made him snort in the process. For the first time in his life, he got to see Near irritated. It wasn't obvious, but Mello could see it in his eyes, and that was enough.

Alice answered after she let Mello finish his fits of laughter. "We already have a flight leaving soon, so I don't have much time."

"So you're just going to leave like that?"

She eyed L. "Well, my boss booked the flight before I even knew it."

L looked away.

"Can't you change your flight 'til tomorrow? You could come visit my ranch and have some real Texan barbeque."

Zeek rubbed his tummy. "That sounds better than munchies."

Alice grew weak. She liked her new friends, even though from the beginning she had been trying to avoid that kind of attraction. _How could she possibly leave them like this?_

Near tugged on Alice's shirt and said, "Ace, the time."

Alice bit her bottom lip. "I would love to eat the best Texan barbeque, but…" She trailed off, hoping to come up with a solution that would satisfy both parties. She had a very hard time coming up with an answer that didn't involve hiding them on the plane.

"Ace, if I gave Zeek and Eric cell phones to contact you only, would that make your departure easier?"

Alice nodded. "Yes, please do that!"

Zeek rubbed the back of his head, looking a little disappointed. "New phones? I don't think I'll be able to pay for the service." He made money sparingly, and he owned a cell phone, but there was never a guarantee he could pay for the monthly bill that came with it.

"Don't worry about that. The service is within our operation, so it will be free of charge on your behalf."

Zeek beamed in his usual manner, leaning back and giving the peace sign. "Much love, my brother, much love."

"So I could call you whenever I want, then?" Eric asked.

Alice nodded again. "So don't think of me as leaving for good. I'll always be there for you if you need me."

"But what if I want to see you?"

Alice was going to say something, but L answered first: "This will most likely be the last time you'll see her in person."

Eric shook his head, giving L a disbelieving look. "No, sir, that ain't fair." He ran a hand through his hair, and then he looked to Alice, a hard crease running across his forehead. "What about all we've been through? You're telling me that I drove two hours to Houston and almost got myself killed twice just to never see you again?" His voice was getting louder, and his anger was getting harder to hold back.

Alice felt like crying. She could tell Eric was holding back tears of his own. He was a true Texan cowboy, and he told her before that Texan cowboy's don't cry. That only seemed to make her want to cry harder.

"Eric, I don't want that—"

Eric threw his hands down violently. "_So you're just gonna let your boss tell you what to do?_"

Eric's red eyes and enlarged Adam's apple told Alice he was going to explode at any minute. She had to get him out of that hallway as soon as possible. Without another word, she grabbed his arm and dragged him through the small huddle of Wammy's boys. Mello protested for her to stop; L made it clear that what she was wasting their time. Even Near told her she had just two minutes left. She ignored them all and forced Eric to sit on a bed. L wanted to follow, but she raced to the door and only allowed Zeek in. She told the rest to wait outside for her.

"Ace, the plane," L said to her face before she shut the door.

Alice gave him a hard glare and said, "If you truly love me, then you will find a way to stall that flight." And the door slammed shut. A blanket of silence enveloped the room.

Eric couldn't take sitting much longer, and he was up on his feet before Alice could stop him. "Who does that guy think he is?" He pointed at the door.

Zeek started to look upset; his smile had gone missing. Alice had never seen him go without smiling for so long.

"Eric, sit down," Alice ordered. She couldn't stand seeing either of them upset, and having Eric blow up wasn't fixing the situation.

Eric didn't look like he would at first, but he did eventually. "Is that true, Ace? Will I never see you again?"

Alice wasn't sure how to answer him, but the more she thought about it, the more confident she came to her decision. "Don't listen to him," she began. "I promise that I'll come and visit you. You should come visit me as well. Same goes for you, Zeek."

"I wouldn't mind vacationing in England. I bet the munchies there are yummy."

Eric was concerned. "Are you sure your boss will let you?"

"Don't worry about him; I can convince him to see it my way."

Eric didn't believe her. He twiddled his thumbs and looked down at his knees. "I don't mean to be a bother, darlin', but I just don't like the idea of losing a close friend so soon."

Alice felt her throat close up. She was holding back a flood of tears; it hurt to blink. "I feel the same way," She managed without making her voice crack.

Zeek took a step forward and inhaled deeply as if he were about to start a mediation session. "I think we all need a hug right now." He spread his arms out.

Alice moved in right away, but Eric gave them an uncomfortable look. Zeek shook his head and motioned for Eric to come over.

When he continued to stay on the bed, Alice made an effort to coax him over. "Come on, know you want this." She squeezed Zeek's waist to show him what he was missing out on.

Eric sighed heavily and groaned, getting up. Alice and Zeek snickered at Eric's pained look. When he was within reach, they forced him into the hug, squeezing him until he started to protest. "Okay! I get it!"

Alice heartily laughed after she let go. Zeek laughed along with her, sparking a train of laughter that Eric eventually joined. In the midst of laughter, Alice suddenly was blinded with a light so bright, it nearly caused her to sink to the floor. She feigned noticing it, but she still watched Doug materialize right there in the room. He quickly appeared, as if he was a reflection in a water ripple. Alice only saw him for a fraction of a second, but what she saw made her feel euphoric. Doug smiled, bright eyed and glowing a radiant white. He didn't have dark circles under his eyes or yellowed skin. He looked healthy, reborn. And the next thing she knew, he was gone, just as fast as he appeared. As much as she would have wanted to say her goodbyes, she was okay with just a smile. He looked happy, which was all Alice wanted. Her job was finally over. She could return home knowing Doug was at peace.

"Did it just get hot in here?" Zeek subdued his laughter.

Eric stepped back immediately. "You certainly know how to ruin a moment."

Alice laughed even harder, snorting every time she inhaled.

* * *

The time it took Alice to finish saying her goodbyes lasted for ten more minutes. L was forced to stall the plane. He wasn't proud of what he had to do, but he didn't want to wait for another flight. Upon Alice's arrival, they were all rushed in the SUV and driven to the airport. It happened so fast, by the time she was walking on the plane, Alice felt dizzy.

"You sit next to me, Ace." L pulled her along. They were in first class after Mello's thorough complaint about flying in coach. It seemed it was only their little group that booked the entire first class section, so they had a part of the plane to themselves.

Matt leaned back into his large reclining chair. "Finally, some rest."

Mello grunted, agreeing.

Alice was slower to sit, watching out her tiny window in deep thought about all that has happened over just a few days. She was so consumed with her memories, that she hadn't noticed L calling her name. L had to pat her on her shoulder after the fourth attempt. Alice's focus was cut short. "Yes?"

"I advise you to get some rest. You haven't slept for nearly twenty-four hours now."

Alice snorted. "And what about you, Mr. Stays-awake-for-an-entire-week?"

"I've built a tolerance for such a thing, so I've adapted to my sleep deprivation. You, however, require the normal eight hours of sleep. This flight won't give you exactly eight hours, but it should be enough to revitalize your vigor."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "My vigor?"

Matt snickered. "Talking naughty to each other already? Couldn't you two wait until you're alone?"

Alice threw a tiny bag of pretzels at Matt. "For Christ's sake, Matt!"

L said, "They only tease you to get a reaction."

"Oh, I'll give them a reaction." Alice eyed Matt.

Matt coughed once and looked awake to talk to Mello, as if Mello had addressed him.

"I take it everything went well with your new friends?" L asked.

"Yup, I told them they could visit us."

A sharp pain nipped at his temples. "We don't normally allow visitors in Wammy's House."

"They are my friends, and I plan on seeing them again, whether you like it or not."

L knew Alice was set in her ways, so he would let her win for the moment. Maybe if he let her cool down, she would understand his reasons for keeping out strangers who could otherwise harm the children.

"Oh! Zeek said he would open up his own bakery in Grapeland. He's getting a loan from Eric, and he said he would be happy to send us some brownies when his store is up and running."

"Good for him." L did not sound enthusiastic. Alice let that slide, since L hardly knew Zeek anyway.

"What happened to Douglas?"

Alice shrugged. "He moved on, I suppose."

"Such a cliché answer," L said. "Don't you dig deeper into the mystery of death?"

Alice sighed. "I've tried, but they don't even know what lies after they leave."

"How disappointing. I'll have to investigate that for another day."

For some reason, Alice wasn't looking forward to that. She could already pictured pissing off a horde of ghosts or running into trouble with some higher being like Jesus or Buddha.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board Flight 4B7 with service from Houston to Winchester, England." The announcement began. "We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts at this time and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. We also ask that your seats and table trays are in the upright position for take-off. Please turn off all personal electronic devices, including laptops and cell phones. Smoking is prohibited for the duration of the flight. Thank you for choosing Mountain Airlines. Enjoy your flight."

Alice felt a spark of energy rush threw her veins. L had told her to get some rest, but how could she think about sleep after knowing it would be just a couple more hours until she reunited with her family?

"Ace, you're twitching your leg again."

Alice put her hand on her thigh and gave L a sideways glance. "I'm excited."

"I can see that, but you'll waste your energy if you keep that up. You should rest."

Alice leaned into her chair, molding her back to fit like a puzzle piece in a jigsaw. There was no harm in trying, though she seriously doubted she would ever fall asleep.

* * *

"You think she's dead?" Mello poked Alice with a stick he found on the ground.

A small trickle of drool ran down the side of her cheek, giving a clear indication that she was fast asleep. In fact, it wasn't long after she got comfortable in her seat on the plane that she passed out, falling into a deep REM cycle that occasionally caused her to almost slip out of her chair. Luckily L was there to catch her, but it wasn't easy for him, that was for sure.

Matt held back a snicker, letting Mello poke the bull at his own will. Matt's already been strangled once, and he wasn't about to fall down that road twice.

"Please reframe from such behavior." Watari gave Mello his disapproval. Mello grumbled, but stopped none the less.

"All of you should head inside and unpack your things. I will take care of Ace." L gave his orders.

Watari eased the Bentley door further open so L had more room to step out. He bowed to show him respect, and then walked the three boys up the driveway. Mello and Matt protested at first, but they were no match for Watari's authority. The group was stepping inside no sooner than L could make his way out of the vehicle.

Before he made his attempt to wake her up, he took a moment to observe her sleeping face. Besides the trickle of drool glistening off her left cheek, he found her peaceful form endearing. He much rather see her at peace, then at war with herself. And if he could look upon her face like this every day, he could die a happy man (not that he would ever let himself die so easily).

Alice scrunched up her noise as if she were smelling something foul, and then mumbled incoherent words that sounded as if she were crying like a cat. Just like clockwork, Alice shifted in her sleep, causing her arm to flail to the side and land just under her torso as she face-planted onto the leather seat. A loud, bubbly snore escaped threw her lips and bounced of the leather like a sprinkler.

"Graceful as always, my dear Ace." L let a smile slip behind his thumb.

Inside of Wammy's House, Mello watched out the entry way window, keeping a close watch as if it was his job to do so. A serious frown reflected his thoughts of the last time he was watching a similar scene with Maria. It took all his will power not to run out that door and cause a scene.

"It's never good when you start making that face." Matt strolled in behind him.

Mello finally looked away from the window, coming back too after hearing the ease in Matt's voice. "I was just thinking."

"No, I get it." Matt pulled some of the curtain so he could see out the window. "I'm jealous myself."

_"It's not like that!" _

Roger suddenly stepped into the door frame and motioned for the boys to follow. "Stop spying and come hold off the children before they start to tear this house apart," he sounded flustered. He was then quick to turn around and continue to speak, as if he expected Mello and Matt to follow right behind. "I won't have these children running about like wild baboons. I expect them to behave for Alice's return…" Roger's voice faded within the depths of the wood panel walls.

Matt bit his bottom lip, holding back laughter. "Poor old man,"

"I feel a headache coming on." Mello sneered.

* * *

It's not as if Alice was cold. Her fingers didn't prickle like crystallized ice and her breath was a lukewarm, but she couldn't stop the shivers. It was as if her muscles were reacting to an invisible sensation.

"Ace…" her name was called out, but she couldn't fit the voice to the person. It was pleasant though, as if she were being fawned over by an overly protective mother. Her hair was stroked lightly and her named was called again with a whisper, complimenting the cool breeze that followed. With such sweet tranquility, she couldn't imagine letting herself wake up. She wanted the dream to last as long as possible. "Ace, we are home." The words trickled into her ear like wind chimes.

_Home?_

Alice's eyes snapped open with shots of adrenaline coursing through her heart and pumping into her veins. It was as if she was plugged in and turned on with the simple switch of a trigger word; home. She sat up so fast, she didn't even realize L had to jump out of the way so their heads didn't collide.

"Ah, you're finally awake."

Alice looked around the interior of the Bentley with fright. She behaved like a caged animal ready to attack anyone that would get in the way of her freedom.

L ignored this and continued to say, "We should probably head inside. Everyone is anxiously waiting for you."

"When did we get here? How long was I asleep? How come it's so easy for you people to move me when I'm knocked out? Did you drug me?" Her thoughts brought her back to the last time she missed her return home and woke up in her own bed with pajamas on. She never really got an explanation for that, but at least this time she was fully dressed.

"I wouldn't use narcotics on you. You sleep quite peacefully without them."

Alice huffed and wiggled herself to the end of the seat so she could jump out. L offered her his hand and she looked at it with caution. "You're telling me the truth, right?"

"Yes," L was straight forward. That convinced her to take his hand and let him guide her out of the car. She touched the ground with a light thud. At first she looked to L, thanking him with a smile, but was soon struck with awe at the structure behind him. She had only been gone for a few days, but it seemed like a lifetime since she's stood outside Wammy's house. It was as glorious as the first time she saw it. Specks of light illuminated through the stain glass windows of the attic. The porch housed an assortment of hanging pots full of flowers and the Victorian ornate walls encompassed the rich landscape comprised of beautiful stone statues and shrubbery. She could never forget the first time she saw it and how inviting it was. It was that moment she could hear it calling her name. Without another moment's notice, she gripped L's hand tightly and started to pull him towards the house.

L didn't resist, enjoying the minimal contact.

"We should have a big dinner tonight," Alice's pace picked up.

"That would fine."

"We should throw a celebration!"

"I would not mind."

"We could bring out the water slid and a whole assortment of balloons!"

"The price on helium and substantially risen over the years,"

Alice ignored L's last comment and reached for the door. Before she could even touch the handle, the door was swung open with great force. Tinker and Henchman stood on the other side, looking disheveled and out of breath.

In the background, Roger's voice echoed down the hall. "I told you two to wait!"

Alice's voice turned into a rough whisper. "Tinker…Henchman…?"

They both smiled like hyenas on bath salts. They lunged for her and were soon embracing her with a hug so tight, it forced L to let go and step back. At the same time they shouted, _"We missed you so much!"_

"I missed you too!" She squeezed back, making sure she had both her little brothers within her arms. And it wasn't long before the sound of little feet tumbling over the wood floor descended into the entry way. Every nook and cranny of that tiny room was filled with a child, spilling up the stairs and past the door frame connecting to the dining room. Alice looked around the room with tear filled eyes. She spread her arms wider, and motioned for the rest of them to join in on the hug. A few of the children squealed and jumped in, while others simple stayed where they were and enjoyed the moment as it was. They knew eventually they would hug Alice without the big crowd anyway. Laughter engulfed the tiny room making it incredibly difficult for Roger to step inside and disband the ciaos.

"Everyone please! If you're going to bunch together like sardines, at least file outside so there's more room!"

Watari slapped a hand on Roger's shoulder and laughed under his breath. "How invigorating," He took in a deep breath. Roger just felt defeated. If his friend wasn't going to do anything about it, then there was no hope.

"Well what have we got here?" A shrill woman stepped into the room, causing some of the children to part like the red sea. Watari was impressed by her ability to manipulate the children without even saying a word.

"Ms. Jane!" Alice smiled after letting go of one of the smaller children.

"If I find any scuff marks on this floor, I will have all of you down here scrubbing it with your toothbrushes." She placed her hands firmly on her wide hips.

Alice immediately lost her smile. "Would you look at the time," she said while pretending to look at a watch on her wrist. "I should unpack my things."

"But we want to play!" little Charlie cried from within the crowd. He obviously did not know the bad end of Ms. Jane's punishments. Alice had to rectify the situation fast before the housekeeper rectified it for her.

"We will, I promise. The sooner I unpack, the sooner we can celebrate."

Some of the children looked like they were going to explode. "We're having a party?" Linda asked excitedly.

"That's right, and I'm going to need to borrow your waterslide again Tinker, if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course!" Tinker obliged. The smiles on some of the children's faces seemed to get bigger. They cheered and laughed as if they were exploring a house of mirrors at some carnival. Alice had to maneuver awkwardly just to get past them to the stairs. By the time she was taking the first step, L was right behind her, blocking the children from following the rest of the way. A part of her wanted them to follow, but at the same time, she really needed to change her clothes, and she couldn't have a horde of children in her room while she was undressing.

"We better quicken our pace before Roger losses his rationality."

Alice chuckled, but continued up the stairs in haste. When they both reached the top, they were greeted with the sound of gun fire echoing from inside of Matt's room. Since L wasn't making a big deal out of it, Alice assumed it was Matt merely playing one of his video games.

"I will join you outside later." L walked past her. "I have to finish a few odds and ends first."

Alice shrugged. "That's cool." She assumed he had things to do anyway when they got back, and she wasn't going to badger him about it. She already had a full plate of her own that she needed to take care of. So with a hop and a skip, she moseyed into her room and did the necessary unpacking (and by unpacking, that meant throwing her clothes out of her bag onto the floor and then stuffing the empty bag under her bed). "Now to party!" she said with satisfaction. She raced out her room and followed the gun fire next door to Matt's sanctuary. Three times in a row she heard the announcer proclaim _head shot!_ "Matt!" she screamed over the powerful sound system.

Matt was engulfed in a bean-bag chair with a television the size of a baby horse a few feet away. On the screen displayed a bloody war, as his character moved about the scene almost as if he were part of the landscape. The poor innocent souls he was playing with online never saw him coming. When he heard Alice scream his name, he acknowledged her by tilting his head back as saying, "What's up, babe?"

"_We're going to have a party! Stop what you doing and come downstairs!_"

"_What?_"

"_I said_,_ we're going to have a party!"_

_"Still didn't catch that."_

"Oh, for Christ's sakes," Alice grumbled. She then walked in front of the screen and put her hands on her hips.

"Hey!" Matt paused his character quickly. He was on a twenty head-shot kill streak and he wasn't about to lose all his hard work.

"Party downstairs, now."

Matt sighed heavily. "I have a lot of work to catch up on. Sorry Ace,"

Alice raised an eyebrow.

Meanwhile, L was walking into his back office on the third floor. A pile of papers littered the floor, just like he left it before. When he reached his desk, he put his cell phone down and curled up onto his chair, bringing his knees to his chin. He sat in silence for maybe a minute before there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

Watari stepped inside looking troubled. "Sir," he began.

"How many times did he call?" L asked impatiently.

"Twice, sir."

L started to nibble on his thumb. It was more than he expected of Alice's father. Charles was a busy man, and the fact that he would even take the time to call and ask about his daughter made L uneasy. Roger was wise to keep any important information from him, but who knows how much longer they would be able to keep him uninterested. For now, her father only wishes to know where she is, but L had no doubt in his mind he would eventually want her back in his custody. Legally she was of age to do what she wanted, but her father was a political powerhouse. He had the ability to move mountains if he so pleased.

"Should we inform Miss Ace?"

"No, not until absolutely necessary. She's been through enough already."

"As you wish," Watari bowed.

"If he calls again, I would like you to speak with him." L made his next order. Watari gratefully obliged.

L slowly got up from his chair and ran a hand through his messy locks. He could probably use a good brushing, but he wasn't concerned.

_Thump!_

Both Watari and L looked to the floor where the noise had come from. Faintly, they made out Alice's shrieks. "_Take your pants off!_"

"Watari?" L motioned towards his friend.

Watari looked pale, his handkerchief crumpled into his fist.

_"Ace! What the hell?" _L heard Mello enter the scene.

"Shall we go see?" L got excited. Watari already looked defeated. He was slow to follow L out.

By the time they reached the second floor, a battle was already taking place. For some reason, Alice had Mello in a headlock and she was screaming at him about a party. L couldn't quite catch every word she said, but he was pretty sure he heard the word swimsuit somewhere in the mix of shrieks and hisses.

"_Ace! Let go!_" Mello sounded murderous. Even as he managed to pull her off the ground, she kept her grip on him as if she was a baby chimpanzee clinging to her mother.

"_You have to come to the party!_"

Matt stood in the background, putting his hands out in front to protect himself from Alice's flailing legs. Mello had finally wrapped an arm around her waist and managed to slip his head out from her choking grip. With her feet finally back on the ground, she kicked up and tried to bounce out of his hold.

_"Damn Bitch!"_ Mello growled, determined not to let her get away.

_"Don't make me kick you in the balls!"_ Alice retorted, her back pressed up against his stomach.

Mello quickly lifted her off the ground as she started to kick the air. Her screams only seemed to get shriller. Watari had to step in at that point.

"Mello, put her down!"

Mello dropped her immediately, watching her topple to the ground with weak limbs. She rubbed her butt angrily before giving Mello a curled lip and a glare. "Asshole," she mumbled under her breath.

"Miss Ace," Watari sighed. "Why is it you're already causing trouble? We've only been home for ten minutes."

Alice gapped. "Why do you think I started this? Mello attacked me first!"

Mello immediately went on the defense. "I was stopping you from stripping Matt, you pervert!"

"Please," Alice rolled her eyes. She then slowly got up from the ground and dusted herself off. "I was helping him with his swimsuit."

Mello looked like a tea kettle about to explode. "_How is that any different!?_"

"Enough, you two," Watari held up his hand. "This celebration is optional to attend, so Ace, I would appreciate it if you left these boys alone."

Alice frowned, disappointment and anger mixing together inside of her head and bubbling away as if her insides were brooding in a witch's caldron.

Mello got smug, crossing his arms and smirking over at the dumbfounded blonde standing next to him.

"And boys," Watari continued. "It would be nice to see you downstairs celebrating, instead of isolating yourselves up here. I'm sure you would agree with me that this household means more to you then some silly video game."

Matt felt a twitch under his eyelid. Watari hit him right where it hurt. He played the guilt card, and Matt _hating_ feeling guilty. Mello didn't seem to mind all that much, but Matt was already looking at his game and watching the screen blink over to the main menu. His online battle had ended without him, and his record was lost along with what little pride he had left. With a gut retching sigh, he said, "Fine, I'll go get my swimsuit on."

Alice demeanor turned around completely. She went back to smiling and praising Matt repetitively.

However, it was Mello's turn to look dumbfounded. "You're giving in just like that?"

Matt shrugged his shoulders and managed to smirk. "What can I say? The lady wants to see my bare chest. I can't very well deny her that, can I?"

Mello's disgust was clear as day of Alice's arrival.

"Lovely," Watari nodded his head in approval. "Then I'll be happy to escort you downstairs Miss Ace, while these boys get changed."

"I never said I was coming!" Mello growled.

Alice ignored him and graciously agreed to Watari's offer. "Thank you my good sir." She held onto his elbow, giving L a flirtatious wink before she was guided out the room.

"God Damnit!" Mello kicked at a pillow.

L was amused over the enchantment of Alice's ability to persuade her targets, but his intrigue didn't last long. He had to return to his office to finish the work he started. Then, he might join the rest outside, if he wasn't too busy.

"Damn, I'm out of smokes…" Matt sighed.

* * *

The portfolio made a loud thump as it hit the hard wood of the red maple desk. L played with corner, debating whether or not he should open it. A half hour had already gone by, and a part of him felt exhausted. He had slept for maybe an hour on the plane, but it wasn't enough. He should have just set the file aside and closed his eyes for a bit, but what if it was an interesting case? His brain was an organ that needed continuous exercise; otherwise he would lose all his hard work to develop it. It needed the stimulation. L wiggled his free toes and took a deep breath. If he quieted his own thought s for a minute, he could faintly here the children outside screaming and laughing with delight. There was another part of his conscious that told him he should be outside with the others. He should take more time interacting with the children. Someday a number of them would eventually take his place in the detective world. Getting to know his successors would only benefit him.

_Slam! _A thump to the door made L jump. "L? Are you in here?" Alice's sweet, but slightly off-kilter voice called out. If L didn't know any better, he would say she almost sounded intoxicated.

"Yes, you can come in."

The door knob rattled followed by a string of giggles. "I found you!" The door swung open, balancing a pretty blonde with short jean shorts and a tight light blue t-shirt that probably could have used another button on the chest.

"How much have you had to drink, Ace?"

Alice stumbled into the room, gripping the first chair she could find. "Only a little." She pinched her fingers together to show him the amount.

"I highly doubt that." L went to stand up.

Alice snorted loudly, followed by a cackle to match. "You're funny."

"I wasn't trying to be." He grabbed her elbow, helping her onto the chair. It took a couple attempt s to make her sit, but eventually she took a seat without trying to rest her legs on the armrest. "Shouldn't you be downstairs with the others?"

"I missed you." Her rosy cheeks flared.

L assumed it was the effect of the alcohol. "We haven't been separated for long."

Alice pursed her lips together in a smile and traced her hand down his arm. She followed the wrinkles of his white sleeve, stopping the moment she reached his hand. "I remember you." Her voice got quieter.

L watched her delicate fingers sketch the lines on his hands as if she was outlining a map of his skin. "Remember me in what way?" He hid the rumble in his voice.

"On the phone," Her smile wavered. "You're my dragonfly."

"Yes, I remember that conversation quite well."

Alice moved closer to him, letting her leg touch his own while her shoulder curled up to his chest. She still had his hand, massaging each finger with deep concentration. "I really like you." Her voice dipped into a whisper.

L wanted to pull his hand away out of fear she might feel how clammy they were. His throat felt dry while the core of his chest was on fire. Her soft touch was like a shower of silk, ever so lightly filling the cracks of his own rough skin. For once in his life, he was speechless. It was the moment he could respond with his true feelings, and yet nothing seemed to want to come out. It could have been the smell of her alcoholic breath, or maybe how unclear his own thoughts were, but the moment wasn't right. At least, not yet. So, as always, he played it safe. "My feelings are mutual." His hand wrapped around hers, ending her little massage.

She didn't seem to mind, using her other hand instead to pet the top of his. "Do you think we'll grow old together like Watari and Roger. I always thought they were a cute couple…" She leaned her head back so she could look L in the eyes.

L couldn't stop the smile that came next. "Wouldn't that be delightful?" He played along.

She laughed and squeezed his hand. Playing at her instincts, she went for the kiss on his cheek. Her lips melted to his skin, briefly creating a warm tender tattoo that would forever been marked into her memories. He smelled like cotton candy, and tasted sweet like the syrup they put on pancakes. Alice wanted to linger more, but she made it quick so she wouldn't scare him away. After the kiss, she began to laugh, immediately struck with joy after seeing how red L's cheeks got. Her body leaned back unconsciously as her laughter continued to grow. Her famous snort separated each and every whoop and cackle. "You're a tomato!"

"Yes well," L straightened himself out, hoping to reclaim some of his mobility and reason. "You should probably return to the children now."

"My cute little tomato!" Alice continued to laugh, gripping her stomach in the process. She rolled back on the chair after L had moved away.

"I'm sure Watari is worried about you." L shuffled over to his desk.

Alice wiggled around enthusiastically, eventually ending up falling out of the chair all together and landing on the floor. This, however, did nothing to the hilarity of the situation. The floor was merely the second stop to her undying fits of giggles.

L watched in silence, eying the phone next to him and wondering if he should call Watari. But, he rather enjoyed watching Alice, even though she wasn't in the best state of mind.

"Ace?"

Alice settled down long enough to answer. "Yes honey?"

"How would like to help me with this next case?"

Alice immediately bolted forward, her hair whipping like a slingshot. "Case?"

L pushed the portfolio forward. "That's correct."

Alice crawled over to his desk, not at all concerned about her knees or how awkward her movements were. "Didn't we just finish a case? What about the party?"

"We can still have the party. I'm merely warning you of our next adventure."

Alice bit her bottom lip, eying the folder that was presented in front of her. It could have been the alcohol affecting her judgment, but she was itching to read that report. What if it was another drug dealer, or a serial killer? Hell, it could have been a notorious diamond thief after the crown jewels of her majesty. "What's the case?" She lingered on the question.

L noticed the spark in her eye. He mirrored her with his own. "I haven't looked yet."

Alice clawed the wooden table slowly. The yellow parchment was just screaming at her. She licked her lips, hungry for some excitement. "Maybe just a peak." She reached over.

L subtly smiled. This was why he had fallen for her. He would have never taken such interest in a case before, but the thought of working with her again made the sport worthwhile. No matter how many mistakes he made in the past, or was going to make later, as long as he had her, he could see a bright future. She had a gift, and not just the kind that allowed her to see the dead, but a gift that brought happiness in an otherwise desolate environment. L touched his cheek, reflecting on the sensation of her kiss. He wished it could have lingered more.

Alice was about to open the folder, but she momentarily stopped to look into L's eyes. It was short, but in that fraction of a second, she remembered all of shortcomings and difficulties she had with him before. He had made her feel so many different emotions in just a short amount of time; it was as if she was on a never ending menstruating cycle. Nobody had ever made her feel that way, and to be honest, she liked it. She liked that he could make her laugh even when he wasn't trying to be funny, or that he could make her cry with a drop of a dime. It was as if he was her puppet master of her emotions. She was truly holding her heart out to him, and he could easily break it. She was scared, but it was the kind of rush she's been looking for. For too long she's held back her feelings from others, and now she was finally willing to let go. Wammy's house was a nice place to live, but he was her new home. "Are you ready for this?" She lifted one eyebrow.

L set his thumb to his bottom lip. "Of course I am."

* * *

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! (No really, I mean it)  


**SpringBorn, ShaDow EmpIre, Sakura Ichigo Morihiko, xMisaki-Chanx, Bre Renee, nadzuke eno mono, MeAFanfictionGirl, Ironicsheep, PhoenixBreaker90, Kashagal and Natures Ruler, CrazyinAbottle, I Am Alys, waitingforw0nderland, blackstar778, uniquename200's NEW ACCOUNT, Speckles719, Vampirekittiz, Lady-Wicca666, Aqua Cahill, Me, tootsiepop101, NinjaGirl9797, The-Depravity-Experiment, Jssica Werner, bleck, NiiNiiChii, Agalia, Saiyuki, PhoenyxWarrior, Broken Time Keeper, GUEST, Claras, glockengeek, Katharonie, Raven, hairEbunny, CCaptain43, EpicShadowNinja, jssjessica, MyBell31795, and Pixel-Panda.**

If I missed anyone in the list, by all means, yell at me. As much as I want to do my usual one-on-one conversations next, I'd rather just thank you all here and now for all the support you have given me. I could have never done this without you all and I honestly feel like I've become a part of some weird large family. We sometimes get a little out of control, but in the end we respect each other. I'm so honored to have given you all something to laugh and maybe even cry about. For all of those who drew me fan-art, I am deeply grateful. I imagined them all on my fridge like trophies. For all of those who translated my story, I am beyond humbled. You brought my story to a new level and I literally could not have done without you. And, everyone who clicked onto my story, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for giving it a try. Cheers!

And one last thing, I want to apologize as well for getting this chapter out so late. Life hit me hard and I haven't found a balance yet. But, I don't plan on giving up writing. I love to write, and at some point I might even have another story coming your way, so be on the look out!

I'm just going to say it, because I've been wanting to say it ever since I started this fan-fiction. I LOVE YOU ALL!


End file.
